- EMR stands for electronic medical records and EHR stands for electronic health record.
- EMRs are the digital versions of a patient’s paper records that are used in medical centers.
- EHRs do everything an EMR does but also be able to connect with other systems and healthcare organizations.
- EHRs are able to link with pharmacies, labs, and other medical centers, generally, EMRs can’t.
The healthcare industry has been changing to digital for a very long time. It’s been a slow and at times painful transition but it is a significant one for the future of healthcare.
It’s important to know the difference between EMR and EHR as these terms are often used interchangeably, but they serve very different functions.
What is an Electronic Medical Record?
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system also known as an EMR document and manages all patient charts digitally, removing the need for paper charts. This can include:
- Patient’s diagnosis and treatment
- Patient’s clinical data
- Patient’s medication history
- Patient consent forms
- Doctor’s notes
EMRs are also able to schedule patients, e-prescriptions, and track patient information over time. The benefits of an EMR are great for a medical center because they don’t have to deal with the hassle of managing paperwork. Often EMRs are used in small to medium-sized practices in varying.
Check out these articles after you’re done
What is an Electronic Health Record?
Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems do everything and EMR does but more. They are able to connect to pharmacies, labs, and other healthcare facilities. They are often used in larger medical practices like hospitals. EHRs are built to go beyond the need for making patient records digital and are built for interoperability.
What are the main differences between an EMR vs EHR?
The main difference between an EMR system and an EHR system is the functionalities and connections to other health organizations. For example, if a patient visits a doctor and that office documents that patient’s medical information, that information will only live in that EMR with that doctor’s office.
Cancel If a patient visits a hospital, their EHR will also allow doctors to document the patient’s medical information but it can be available for other healthcare organizations. For example, the patient records can be transferred to a lab for testing. When a patient visits the lab and is finished, their lab results will then be uploaded and sent back to the EHR.
An EHR does a really good job of following a patient and managing their data over time. At times there are even patient portals, that allow patients to get instant access to their medical information. This can be seen with new patient portals like MyChart that have been utilized by Epic.
Now that you understand the difference between an EMR vs EHR, it might be good to understand some of the benefits of having an EMR. Learn the value of Ambulatory EMR for surgical centers.
