Since the personal computer came of age, doctors and medical facilities have digitized medical information for patients, insurance records, and financial information. The Internet followed close behind, bringing EMRs (electronic medical records) and health information technology transitioned to the present environment of digital record keeping.
EMRs have been around for about thirty years, but as of 2007, only about one fourth of office-based physicians have made the transition. Proposed changes in the health care industry, no doubt, will bring about a large movement over to EMRs and EHRs.
EMRs and EHRs are medical and health records that integrate medical and financial information within medical networks and facilities. The main advantages are accuracy, efficiency and cost savings for medical offices and while the principle is sound and in line with automated health information technology, it would be unfair to say that EMRs have passed every hurdle for security.
The difference between EMRs and EHRs:
EMRs are provider order entry systems. They provide patient registration information, insurance, and financial records of claims and payments. They may also include patient appointments, schedules, and procedural codes, diagnostic codes and other information for practice management and insurance providers.
EHRs are a patient's individual medical records and they coordinate storage and retrieval of an individual's medical records aided by a computer. These records may be accessed from a network and a variety of sources. This type of access insures that the latest medical, lab, and current medication records are current and thus can reduce errors.
EHRs provide an efficient method for doctors in filling out medical charts that include diagnoses, medications, or laboratory tests orders. Most systems interface with a PDA or computer notepad. Human error is still a possibility but is reduced substantially by current and updated records retrieval.
PHRs are personal health records that patients store and access on the Internet.
Cost savings and efficiency advantages of EMRs:
One great feature of EMRs is that they have the ability to interface with existing software. This feature eliminates the long process of data migration from the existing database to the new and allows automatically populates fields in the EMR software. It also cuts down on training time and many vendors have a dedicated customer service to support IT and/or user problems.
The automated process of patient scheduling, appointment tracking, billing, printing general claim forms, and statements combine to boost clerical efficiency by eliminating repetitive tasks. Less labor intensive, the automated features cut costs and maintain the bottom line of the organization. It eliminates human input errors by auto population of defined document fields.
Limitations and concerns:
*The main limitation of EMRs is that no standard exists for electronic medical records.
*Patient privacy: Concern about access and security features. HIPAA rules can be overridden where doctors, facilities and insurance companies share the same information.
*EMR doesn't guarantee quality care.
*Payoff for doctors is not as good as estimated.
*Legal documents
It's clear that EMRs are a step into the future of healthcare even with the systemic problems cited. It's equally affirmed that EMRs will come to fruition with standardization of the systems. If the proposed national health care system is implemented, it will demand that a regulatory system is in place to oversee the changes.
The negative aspect of EMRs, Hers, and PHRs is the notion that privacy can't be assured with shared records and access of medical records for many branches of the medical profession and insurance providers. HIPAA provides for privacy, but can EMRs guarantee security? These questions need answers and soon.