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“Should you implement an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or an Electronic Health Record (EHR)? Do you know the difference? Is there a difference?”
In theory, and by definition, there is a difference and it should play into any provider’s clinical software selection.
Many people in the US healthcare industry, our government, and the press use the terms Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) interchangeably. EHRs are reliant on EMRs being in place, and EMRs will never reach their full potential without interoperable EHRs in place. It is important to understand the differences, and to reduce confusion in the market.
Electrical Medical Records:
What Is an Electronic Medical Record (EMR)?
An electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice. An EMR is mostly used by providers for diagnosis and treatment.
An application environment supports the patients electronic medical record across inpatient and outpatient environments, and is used by healthcare practitioners to document, monitor, and manage health care delivery within a care delivery organization (CDO). The data in the EMR is the legal record of what happened to the patient during their encounter at the CDO and is owned by the CDO.
Benefits of Electronic Medical Records
An EMR is more beneficial than paper records because it allows providers to:
- Track data over time
- Identify patients who are due for preventive visits and screenings
- Monitor how patients measure up to certain parameters, such as vaccinations and blood pressure readings
- Improve overall quality of care in a practice
Electrical Health Records:
What Is an Electronic Health Record (EHR)?
An electronic health record (EHR) is a
systematic collection of electronic health information about an individual
patient or population. It is a record in digital format that is theoretically
capable of being shared across different health care settings.
A subset of each care delivery organizations EMR, presently assumed to be summaries like ASTMs Continuity of Care Record (CCR) or HL7s Continuity of Care Document (CCD), is owned by the patient and has patient input and access that spans episodes of care across multiple CDOs within a community, region, or state.
A subset of each care delivery organizations EMR, presently assumed to be summaries like ASTMs Continuity of Care Record (CCR) or HL7s Continuity of Care Document (CCD), is owned by the patient and has patient input and access that spans episodes of care across multiple CDOs within a community, region, or state.
Benefits of Electronic Health Records:
The benefits of EHRs offer far more than a paper record can:
- Improve quality and convenience of patient care
- Increase patient participation in their care
- Improve accuracy of diagnoses and health outcomes
- Improve care coordination
- Increase practice efficiencies and cost savings
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMR VS EHR:
ELECTRICAL MEDICAL RECORDS |
ELECTRICAL HEALTH RECORDS |
1. A repository of individual health
records that reside in numerous information systems and locations
(inter-organizational).
|
1. A record of medical care created
managed, and maintained by one health care organization
(intra-organizational).
|
2. Aggregation of health-related information
into one record focused around a person’s health history. i.e., a
comprehensive, longitudinal record.
|
2. Integration of health care data
from a participating collection of systems from one health care organization.
|
3. Owned by the CDO
|
3. Owned by patient or
Stakeholder.
|
4. Consulted by authorized clinicians
and staff across more than one health care organization.
|
4. Consulted by authorized clinicians and
staff within one health care organization.
|
5. Data interoperability across different
organizations.
|
5. Data continuity throughout one
health care organization.
|
6. These systems are being sold
by enterprise vendors and
installed by hospitals, health
systems, clinics, etc.
|
6. Community, state, or regional
emergence today (RHIOs) - or
nationwide in the future.
|
7. May have patient access to
some results info through a
portal - but is not interactive.
|
7. Provides interactive patient
access as well as the ability for
the patient to append
information.
|
8. Does not contain other CDO
encounter information.
|
8. Connected by NHIN
|
Software Vendor Marketing Migrates Slowly:
The Google search trend data indicates an increased usage of EHR, but EMR remains more prevalent. The same is true when we look at the usage of terminology by software vendors.
In a review of 300 clinical records systems, 207 vendors market their software as an EMR, while 59 use the term EHR.
Why such limited adoption of EHR amongst vendors? First, it simply takes time and effort to change over marketing terms. Moreover, from a very practical standpoint, many vendors will want to continue to use the EMR label while it is the most commonly used – and “Googled” – term for clinical records systems.Reason For Purchasing An EHR:
Provider organizations are feeling intense pressure to implement an Electronic Medical Record(EMR) system, also frequently referred to as an Electronic Health Record(EHR) system. There are many reasons for this increased pressure, including the need for improved exchange of patient information, transformation, and care management.
 |
Reason for purchasing an EHR |
Consider before purchasing and implementing an EMR system:
- Cost
- Compliance with Certification Commission for Health Information Technology
- Compatibility with the Practice Management Systems ("PMS")
- Work Flow Processes
- Decision-making Team
- Coding
- Population and Disease Management
- Well Designed Implementation
Related Articles/Blogs:
Learning Management System(LMS):
http://deemsyinc.blogspot.in/2014/02/article-on-learning-management-system.html
http://deemsyinc.blogspot.in/2014/02/article-on-learning-management-system.html
I've encountered a lot of question about ehr vs emr and somehow this blog has given me good ideas about the difference of the two. Thank you so much for posting this blog.
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