We are hearing more and more information these days about electronic health record information. This is because as technology advances, more and more medical professionals are using electronic health records. An electronic health record, sometimes abbreviated EHR is basically a patient’s health record in digital form.
This is fast becoming the more successful and efficient way to keep records. There are many types of data that can be kept in a patient’s electronic health record. Some of these include:
- Patient demographics
- Eligibility
- Billing records
- Medical history, examination and progress reports of health and illnesses
- Medicine and allergy lists, and immunization status
- Lab and test results
- Radiology images (X-rays, CTs, MRIs, etc.)
- Photographs, from endoscopy or laparoscopy or clinical photographs
- A record of appointments and other reminders
- And much more
This data can then be available to the patient’s doctor whenever needed. It can also be accessed by other medical professionals when needed such as when the patient visits the hospital, emergency room or a specialist medical professional for some condition. There are many more benefits to using the electronic health record instead of a paper record.
One of the biggest benefits is that it greatly reduces medical errors and prescription errors. Many problems result when a patient’s medical record is not available or not made available in time in an emergency situation. Electronic health records solve this problem.
It can greatly help to coordinate appointments and records when a patient is seeing multiple doctors for different conditions or treatments. Electronic storage can also help save on costs that come with paper record keeping. The more you learn about EHR, the more you can see why this is fast becoming such a popular choice. It is predicted and expected that in just a few more years, this will be the accepted way to keep all medical records.
