EMR vs. EHR- The Fine Line Difference and Benefits

Human errors are expected but cannot be accepted in the health care industry where every stage demands precise attention. In recent years, health-related complexities have increased that is giving rise to the requirement for digital medical records.

The EHR & EMR are widely used terms but many times create confusion as people use them interchangeably. So, there is a need to have an in-depth and clear understanding of these two terms to bring operational efficiency in the medical world.

EMR refers to Electronic Medical Records where all the medical and treatment history of a patient are recorded. Simply put, earlier what used to be in a paper format is now turned into digital version to have significant advantages over paper records.

EMR was developed to reduce inaccuracies, theft, misplacement and increasing number of paper histories that were difficult to store safely. EMR is used by clinicians to monitor and manage patient’s information and records to improve the quality of care. Nonetheless, it does not allow sharing data with any other third party or organization.

EHR is known as Electronic Health Record. It is an advanced version of an EMR which includes multiple other features in addition to EMR. These days medical providers use it to get the patient’s information. EHR displays a wider picture of the patient’s health records like important signs, progress reports, medications, allergies and detailed information from different clinicians who already treated a patient before. It also allows healthcare providers to share the patient’s data in real-time with other organizations. So, as soon as you start your treatment with a new doctor, then he/she can access all your data through EHR for further action.

Both EMR & EHR are beneficial in the healthcare industry & offer unique advantages like:

Benefits of EMR:

· Ensure data security of sensitive data

· Access to better patient care

· An effective approach to track medical data/records

· Remind about the checkup & screening of a patient

Benefits of EHR:

· Updated patient’s information can be shared in the real-time

· The patient’s complete medical history can be known

· The healthcare decision-making tools are easily accessible

· Improvement in the overall population health

So, EMR & EHR is like a magic wand, not only for health care providers, clinicians etc. but for patients too. The healthcare data is really very sensitive and it needs to be stored safely for further use, but all traditional ways are time-consuming & too demanding which makes medical processes complex.

That’s why it is recommended to use EMR & EHR because we have already adopted advanced technologies in almost every field and now healthcare is the case of life that has to be accurate & safe.

Both EMR & EHR technologies provide clear and better medical reports, so that patient gets educated about the certain disease and can take necessary steps during an emergency.

These tools augment healthcare development solutions with advanced features to upgrade the quality of care. Let’s integrate the most vital tools and bring a huge improvement in the medical world.