What’s with the hype around electronic health records (EHR)?

Have you ever gone grocery shopping, biding your time before slowly filling up your cart and heading to the checkout station, only to find a very long line? There’s little you can do besides let out a deep sigh, and wait. Regardless, it’s just a little bit of wasted time — not the end of the world.

The same can’t be said for hospital visits. Whether you’re there for an emergency, or are even just treating a cough, getting the right care and medication immediately directly impacts your recovery. Maybe an extra minute here and there isn’t so bad for people with just a cut or a cough, but those few minutes can build up. What happens if down the line, an emergency case is delayed?

When you’re in the business of saving lives, every second counts. It’s true that in many places, we no longer solely rely on paper medical charts or stacks upon stacks of forms, but we’re far from escaping legacy infrastructures. Thankfully the last few decades have seen a shift into mainstream use of electronic health records (EHRs).

What is an EHR?

EHRs are platforms that facilitate the digital storage, management, and exchange of patient records. This might not sound that exciting, but for an industry entirely reliant on patient service, EHRs are key to increasing any given medical institution’s overall efficiency. Think of it like this: medical institutions are like classical watches. Classical watches serve to tell time as accurately as possible, as consistently as possible. Yet many tiny little pieces make up the watch’s entirety, and must work together seamlessly to make this possible.

In the same way, medical institutions have a unified goal of saving lives. Every service, function, and department serves this greater goal in its own way, whether by prescribing the correct medication, diagnosing a patient, or performing surgery. Much like how precision-engineered grooves, wedges and gears keep a classical watch perfectly tuned for years, streamlining workflows with a well implemented EHR allows every part of a medical institution to work collaboratively in the most efficient way possible.

It may sound like a reach to think that only better management of patient records could lead to such a vast difference in operational efficiency, but it’s important to remember that these records are more than observations or descriptions. They provide medical history, biometrics, diagnoses, test results, and more; these vast points of data all paving the way to greater knowledge and understanding of human health. To that end, EHRs can be equipped with technology that makes it so records are created and updated more easily, quickly, and reliably, as well as shareable to various departments and even other medical institutions in a secure manner. They can even be equipped with AI and machine learning, becoming better at supplementing medical personnel in their everyday work as usage continues. At the end of the day, physicians will be able to fully focus on more patients than ever before, unburdened by needless friction and mishaps caused by human error.

A closer look on the benefits of EHRs

As stated before, EHRs have the capacity to electronically store, manage, and exchange patient records and health information. This in turn helps medical institutions attain a variety of resource-saving, future-proofing benefits that will let them provide safer and effective patient treatment.

Here are some ways EHRs can do all this.

Precise, unified records

Papers get lost. They also decay over time, with text slowly becoming less intelligible, and discoloration affecting readability. More than that, it takes longer to write things than it does to type them. The digitization of patient records solves all of this.

On top of that, patients receive care from different physicians from different places. It can be difficult to get a record of all their treatments, but it’s absolutely necessary because physicians need as clear a picture as possible of our biology to provide the best care. They need to be aware of drug interactions, past surgeries or issues, and more to be able to observe patterns and changes that may be relevant to diagnosis.

EHRs can make it so all data pertaining to your treatments is accessible in one location. It makes sure that if your dentist noted that you responded weakly to a specific type of anesthesia during a root canal in 2010, your attending anesthetist from today can adjust accordingly.

Real-time, up-to-date access

With EHR data being stored using modern day solutions, it should come with no surprise that the involvement of the internet and cloud technology makes data much more accessible.

Physicians can reliably and safely access patient data when they need to. The less time it takes for a physician to get all relevant information on a patient, the quicker they can tend to their needs.

Workflow automation

Every medical institution aims for the highest standards in precision and efficiency in documentation. After all, a simple mistype or missing note could result in extensive repercussions to a patient’s healthcare journey.

While medical personnel are some of the most well-trained workers in any industry, they’re still human — often very overworked ones. Even the best of us are prone to error when we’re shouldering so much in such tired states.

EHRs can minimize human error by introducing automated workflows that handle repetitive tasks. From automatic generation of invoices, prescriptions, and insurance claims to reliable document management and more, medical institutions would enjoy much more efficient day-to-day operations.

AI/machine learning assistance

If human error is addressed by automation, how much further can we push the limits of technology?

With AI/machine learning modules attached to an EHR, it would be able to even further supplement medical personnel in their work. Though decision-making would still come down to human touch, wisdom, and experience, technology could make our lives much easier.

For example, AI/machine learning could help learn user habits. Instead of having to find a tool or automated process themselves every single time, the EHR could suggest them when it thinks they’re most needed.

In more advanced cases, they could help detect patterns and data conflicts that aren’t obvious to attending physicians. With patient records extending throughout entire lifetimes, bits of information could go unnoticed. AI/machine learning enabled EHRs would be able to notify a physician of information it thinks is relevant to a diagnosis, or point out negative drug interactions.

Reduced costs and increased productivity

With much better resource management and increased efficiency, reduced costs are sure to follow. Physicians would achieve better work-life balance, and also be able to serve more patients more effectively in less time. Paper costs would be severely reduced, a higher standard for safety achieved, and corporate goals fulfilled.

Ease of implementation

Being a piece of software, EHRs can be easily implemented regardless of where medical institutions are situated. They can be hosted locally, or remotely on the cloud in extremely reliable storage centers. Different EHRs are deployed in different ways, but needless to say, every application is far better than those of paper-based, legacy systems.

Ever Medical Technology’s own EHR is deployed parallel to medical institutions’ existing systems. It causes no overlap, loss, or otherwise mismanagement of data. Medical institutions can transfer their data to Ever’s EHR when they wish, the system learning and growing as it’s used. Designed to be modular, Ever pushes the limits of EHR capabilities to its furthest to provide the best comprehensive solution possible.

Access and control

As the full potential of data can only be actualized through the combined efforts of physicians worldwide, EHRs need to allow the sharing of data in the quickest, most secure way possible. Beyond providing a reliable, efficient infrastructure for medical institutions, EHRs let medical institutions like research laboratories, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency services, and more share health data.

However, security remains of utmost importance. Advanced EHRs give its users fine control and customization of access and sharing, so they can reliably work together. Sometimes, medical institutions only need a small bit of data to provide the most cohesive care possible for a patient, and EHRs have the capability to provide secure sharing of it.

EMRs and EHRs — how are they different?

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are computerized versions of patient records applied in healthcare organizations. They store medical patient treatment histories in a single instance, and provide advantages beyond paper records. For example, they enable physicians to analyze data over time, precisely identifying which patients are suitable for preventative tests or checks, analyzing patient metrics like blood pressure readings or immunizations, and lastly, monitoring and enhancing overall treatment quality. One major limitation however is that it’s more difficult to share. The information on EMRs sometimes even has to be physically printed and mailed as they don’t support a secure sharing system.

As we’ve already detailed, EHRs can do all the above and more. More than anything they’re designed for ease of sharing and access over an entire network of medical institutions. EHRs also look at a patient’s entire health journey from start to finish, not just a singular visit to a hospital.

The Ever EHR

Ever understands the importance of data, and in a collaborative effort with medical institutions around the world, seeks to leverage technology to unlock its full potential. By founding and building its solution off a blockchain-based core, Ever enables implementation of the most secure, most future-proofing innovations to deliver a truly cutting-edge EHR that any medical institution can use.

Though vastly capable, EHRs are only as powerful as the people who utilize it. That’s why we’ve designed our solution in partnership with pioneering physicians in a variety of fields. Their close input and suggestions have been critical in the engineering and evolution of the Ever EHR.

We hope that with the use of our solution, we’ll put an end to siloed, stagnant data from generations of inefficiency. A world of much improved healthcare, alight with data-driven innovation is just around the corner.

Read more about our EHR and how we’re transforming the way we interact with healthcare here.

Sources:
What is an electronic health record (EHR)? | HealthIT.gov
Benefits of EHRs | HealthIT.gov
Electronic Health Records — Health IT Playbook
What are the advantages of electronic health records? | HealthIT.gov
What information does an electronic health record (EHR) contain? | HealthIT.gov
EMR vs EHR — What is the Difference? — Health IT Buzz