Have you ever heard about the benefits of electronic health records and want to explore more how an EHR is an added value to your surgical center? This blog post is for you!
What is an EHR?
First off, before we start by breaking down the benefits of electronic health records, it’s essential to know What is an EHR? Ideally, EHR systems are the best choice when it comes to exchanging, aggregation, and storage of medical data. Not only do they get rid of the paperwork, they as well give access to patients’ info. Surprisingly going beyond physical location. In the event of an emergency, it can be difficult to get access to or understand your medical records. With electronic health records (EHRs), you have one central location for all of these documents! That will help save time and money because they're easier than trying to find them in different places around town!
Benefits of electronic health records
Mainly, the benefits of electronic health records from the healthcare system’s point of view involve:
- Preventing miscommunication with healthcare consumers and doctors through giving access to precise data
- Exchanging safely health data among parties
- Accessing instantly patient’s information
- Handling data and compliance with HIPAA law securely
- Streamlining the process of billing
- Enabling prescriptions in a more accurate manner
- Reducing paperwork and cutting costs
- Making diagnostics easier while avoiding errors
Difference between EHR and EMR systems
Now that you’ve discovered the benefits of electronic health records, are you wondering what’s the difference between EHR and EMR systems? Mainly, telling the difference between EHR and EMR is hard. However, the key to understanding EMR separately is in the middle word. The word “medical” focuses on treatment and diagnosis done by clinicians. Whereas, the word “health” covers more ground and is linked to the overall condition of the body.
But which one is better?
EHRs match EMRs in benefits and exceed them. They’re not limited to the clinical data alone. But rather, they reach the entire health condition of the patient. They’re not only used inside the health system alone. They’re also designed to be shared with different health care providers. For example, specialists and laboratories. This is why they collect different doctors’ information if they’re involved and are more flexible. EHRs move from the patient to the hospital, the nursing home and across the nation in a secure way.
Different types of EHRs
The benefits of electronic health records are many and so are the ways for EHR systems configurations. With each having pros and cons, you can decide which one is better for you upon your practice’s requirements. Check out hereunder the different types of EHRs.
- Physician-Hosted System: This solution enables you to store all data on your proper server. Consequently, you will purchase software and hardware. Additionally, you will be responsible for the continuous maintenance and security of the stored information. If you have a larger practice, you’ll have to take care of the costs of this complicated software. In case you have on-site servers, this will speed up your system and transform it into a reliable source of data.
- Remotely-Hosted System: This is where you shift the data stored from your practice to a third party. So, the third party will oversee the maintenance, security, and data backup leaving free of responsibility.
- Remote Systems: There are 3 types of remote systems:
- Subsidized: includes a relationship with an entity that supports the cost of EHRs. In general, the doctor holds this relationship with a hospital, allowing it to control the data. Probably, this will involve some legal problems like data ownership and antitrust concerns.
- Dedicated: this is when you store the EHRs on a vendor’s server costing you total control.
- Cloud-based EHRs: definitely, it is the most adopted EHR remote system. It is when you store your data in a cloud or in a computing system that is internet-based. You don’t need to store the information on your server. The vendor will take care of that using a cloud. Having said that, your data is somewhere secure on the internet and you can access it through the website of your vendor.
How do you choose the best EHR for you?
Evidently, you will find some EHRs more convenient to your practice. For example, cloud-based EHRs are not costly and spare you hiring an IT team for management of data and maintenance. But, if you have a larger health system, you can afford more expensive hardware and hire IT technicians. Finally, if you’re still hesitant about how to pick your best EHR option, call the Ambula Health team: (818) 308-4108. And now Paper charting vs electronic charting: which one is better?
