When it comes to the healthcare industry, several tools and services have been offered by organizations. If you are a healthcare professional, then you must have heard about the term
HL7 (health level 7), CDA (Clinical Document Architecture),
CCD (Continuity of Care Document),
DICOM,
CDSS (Clinical Decision Support System), Electronic Health Records (EHR), Electronic Medical Records (EMR), and more.
Each of these services is offering different benefits to the healthcare industry. For instance, DICOM saves patient information using tags,
healthcare data management tools improve health outcomes and helps in making better decisions. But most of the people who are new into the field think that EHR and EMR are similar. In reality, they differ in many ways. The terms are used interchangeably but serve different purposes.
EMR is considered as the best digital version of a patient’s chart. EHR, on the other hand, includes the patient’s records from different healthcare professionals and highlights a long-term view of a patient’s health. Furthermore, it contains a patient’s medical history, demographics, and other information. Let’s go deeper and understand how EHR and EMR are benefitting the healthcare industry.
What Do You Understand by Electronic Medical Records (EMR)?
The electronic medical records could be anything on a paper, including allergies, immunization dates, medical history, or patients’ illnesses. EMR focuses on the treatment of medical conditions and that are carried by a single provider. These records are the digital version of the paper charts in hospitals and clinics.
They are more valuable than paper records and allow the providers to identify patients for screening and to track data over time. Additionally, Electronic Medical Records provide improved diagnosis and treatment and assist in making decisions for medical professionals.
Benefits of Electronic Medical Records
EMR provides a better picture of patients’ health to healthcare professionals. Plus, it improves communication between the team members and patients. According to a medical study, Electronic Medical Records reduces the number of tests that test in healthcare efficiencies.
It improves health outcomes when it is used for chronic disease management. It enhances the efficiencies and allows the staff to focus more on patient care. It reduces operational costs and overtime labor expenses. Other benefits of using the right EMR are:
1. Gives the Flexibility to Work Anywhere
EMR platforms are specifically built for
HIPAA compliance and receive software to stay updated. Furthermore, if the patient’s record is stored on the cloud, it can be accessed from any location without any internet connection. It allows you to check the patient’s status from anywhere.
2. Enhances the Accuracy of Coding and Billing
With digitization, working in the healthcare industry has become easier. EMR saves the physical space of your office and offers the benefit of accessing the integrated system that simplifies the billing and coding.
It reduces the efforts of the team. For instance, the staff won’t have to enter the same data in two different systems and make work more productive.
3. Provides Better Services to Everyone
The right platform allows you to spend more time with patients during a visit. In a single click, the healthcare professionals could access the patient’s lab results, treatment plan, and medical notes.
Also, the staff could provide better services in terms of scheduling an appointment, billing, and other office functions.
4. No Need to Open a Separate System
Choosing the right EMR could enhance patient care. For instance, having an EMR integrates with labs and decrease the time it could take to create lab requisitions. Furthermore, the staff won’t need to open a separate system to check results.
Challenges Faced While Using Electronic Medical Records
While Electronic Medical Records offer several benefits to the healthcare industry, it has certain limitations too.
1. Dedicated Time to Electronic Medical Records Training
With the advancement in technology, several changes have been made in the healthcare industry. These frequent changes in the working module could be difficult for those who didn’t get proper training.
Many times the healthcare professionals find EMR software disappointing. Maybe because the chosen software is not designed according to the needs of the professionals or it is not flexible for the office workflow.
If you are researching for the EMR pros and cons, then make sure that you consider easy navigation and its effective use for the patient portal. Also, you might have to invest more time in training EMR trainers.
2. Safety Concern
Another drawback of using EMR is easy to access to the information by anyone. Unfortunately, several data breaches have been recorded in the past few years, especially in the medical field.
Whether it is because of unstaffed training or poor software practice, the medical industry has experienced a huge loss when it comes to maintaining the confidentiality of patient’s information.
What Do You Understand by Electronic Health Records (EHR)?
Electronic Health Records work similar to Electronic Medical Records but focuses more on individual patient data by collecting his/her information from multiple sources. It facilitates the sharing of patient’s information like historical records, demographics, and other information to a different environment.
These systems are designed on a broader picture and allows the transfer of real-time data between patient and doctor. It provides better healthcare by enabling quick access to patients’ records for more efficient care. EHRs are widely used in hospitals and clinics around the world. It is also a digital version of the patient’s record, but more specifically focuses on his/her medical history.
It makes any information accessible to providers across health organizations and helps in making an informed decision. The power of electronic health records not only depends on the information it contains but how it is shared. An EHR is shared with everyone, including nurses, emergency facilities, and others who are involved in patient care. Furthermore, it is instantly accessible to providers across health organizations.
Benefits of Electronic Health Records
1. Fewer Storage Issues
If there would be less paperwork, then there would be fewer storage issues. With instantly accessible information, the staff doesn’t need to spend time searching for the documents. It allows exchanging information that leads to a high quality of care for making a better decision. This software also sends automatic reminders for early visits and screenings.
Additionally, it helps patients in managing and participating more in healthcare conditions. Sometimes paper prescriptions can be misread, and this could give the wrong medication when needed.
2. Better Patient Care and Increased Efficiency
It allows centralized chart management and gives quicker access to patient information from anywhere. Communication with pharmacies and insurance providers is faster and easily trackable.
The EHR incredible features save time and lead to greater productivity. It better coordinates among healthcare experts and provides improved management of chronic conditions.
3. Results Management
An EHR allows receiving lab results, other reports, and X-ray images while assuring that tests are not duplicated. The systems avoid delays in treatments and promote more patient participation.
How EMR and EHR are Different
Electronic Medical Records software provides digital patient charts; whereas, Electronic Health Records allows healthcare professionals to share patients records with other professionals irrespective of location. In other words, EMR provides a small view of the patient’s record, and EHR shares a broader vision of a patient’s health.
EMR allows you to add patient’s information, including prescription medications. It can also be used to schedule appointments. EHR allows e-prescribing and allows healthcare professionals from other locations to collaborate and work on patient care. It is surprising to note that several healthcare experts have started using EMR and EHR interchangeably. EMRs are not designed to use outside of the clinic.
Limitations of Electronic Health Records (EHR)
1. It is Not Interoperable
It is observed that in many cases, the electronic records are not shared with the desired healthcare members. This has been a problem and is trickier to solve, depending on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement procedures.
2. Lack of Interoperability
The EHR systems do not easily share data. During the process, it is important to ask vendors if their system is interoperable with the interoperable systems.
Final Words
If you are looking for a company that should deliver the best healthcare services, then it is recommended to choose a team that is expertise in all healthcare standards.
We at Covetus could assure you to deliver the best healthcare services. Our team assures you to help your patients stay connected with simplified access given to healthcare professionals.
We have years of experience in offering the best healthcare IT solutions and have worked with prestigious brands in the industry.
