Electronic Health Records: 5 Advantages and Disadvantages

An electronic health record is a system for collecting and storing health information about a patient or population. The information is then stored in a digital format and can be shared across healthcare settings. This information makes it easier for health care professionals to manage patient care. It also makes it easier to track and manage a patient’s medical history and prevent diseases.

Pros of Electronic Health Records

The use of electronic health records can be advantageous for a variety of reasons. 

• Improved Patient Care

EHRs help physicians with their work and improve patient care. They are designed to reduce medical errors and improve the patient’s experience, from the initial appointment to follow-up care.

• Increase Patient Participation

EHRs are a great way to improve patient participation in care. They enable patients and providers to make informed decisions together, which is especially important when managing or treating chronic conditions. 

• Improved Care Coordination

EHRs can help reduce fragmentation of care and improve care coordination. Integrating health information, EHRs make it easy to distribute that information to the right care team at the right time. 

• Improved Diagnostics & Patient Outcomes

An EHR allows healthcare providers to see detailed information on a patient at one time, making it easier for them to correlate health parameters and plan effective treatments. This can help physicians make better decisions and reduce medical errors and the need for duplication of tests. 

• Practice Efficiencies and Cost Savings

HER allows health care providers to analyse patient information simultaneously, increasing the efficiency of clinical decision-making. It also reduces administrative costs by requiring manual transcriptions, paper charts, coding, and claims management.

Cons of Electronic Health Records

While electronic health records can be a great way to improve the quality of care, they have a few cons. 

• Outdated data

Outdated data can cause many problems, especially when data is not updated regularly. Therefore, it is imperative to fill out the right data for every patient receiving care.

• It takes time and costs money

EHRs are expensive, and it can be time-consuming to fill out the patient data in the system. However, on the upside, it is a one-time investment will long-term benefits, and once you digitise the medical records, you will save time and money both.

• Inconsistency and inefficiency

The adoption of an EHR system requires significant changes to the office or hospital workflow. Not all physicians are comfortable using the system, and different systems may require workarounds to maintain productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to use a unified approach and proper systems training.

• Quality Issues

Some experts believe that EHRs need to be better designed to improve quality and efficiency. To make them better, clinicians, managers, and policymakers must address the root causes of the problems.

• Privacy and Security Concerns

Health information can be subject to various attacks on privacy, from hackers to insurance companies. Therefore, one must comply with proper security protocols when implementing the systems.

Conclusion –

Eka Care integrates EHR with the patient portal. The software is designed to keep patients’ records digitally and allow doctors to communicate with them more easily. It has been approved by the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, and it is already integrated with the ABHA Unique Health Interface. It has many features that make it a highly versatile EHR.

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Lewis Michaelson