An EHR -- Electronic Health Record -- can best be thought of as an electronic version of the paper chart that your doctor uses to store your medical history. It includes such things as observations, laboratory tests and results, diagnostic imaging reports, treatments, drugs administered, legal permissions, and so on. An EHR is sometimes called an Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Computer-based Patient Record (CPR), or Electronic Patient Record (EPR). All replace the traditional paper chart with an electronic record, and "EHR" is becoming the standard term.
The purpose of an EHR is to give your doctor access to your chart from any medical facility, whether you are in the doctor's office, the hospital, a nursing home or at another medical institution. With an EHR, your doctor (or other physicians who may need it) have full, complete and secure access to your medical history.
EHR systems contribute to more effective and efficient patient care by allowing the transfer of patient information between care sites, leading to improved delivery of care and a reduction of duplicate testing and prescribing. For example, if you have a test or an examination performed at your primary care physician's office, the information can be accessed by a specialist, without the need to undergo a repeat examination.
Instead of being hand-written, the medical record is stored in easy-to-read text, helping to reduce medical errors from incorrect translations of the medical note. For instance, all of your medications can be easily read by all of your doctors, reducing the risk of prescribing a drug that could cause an adverse reaction when combined with an existing medication.
Other advantages of an EHR include improvement in the service your physician's office provides, as your chart will always be accessible when you call with a medical question or refill request. Additionally, your prescription can be sent directly to your preferred pharmacy for pick-up, reducing wait times or the need to visit the office.
Many physicians are switching from paper records to an EHR system. In fact, the Institute of Medicine and other organizations are recommending their use. President Bush, in his State of the Union address, called for EHRs to be in use across the country by 2010.
IPRO can assist your physician with the implementation of and EHR. Information for physicians can be found at www.ipro.org/doqit.