Tag Archives: health
Is There Any Difference Between EHR and EMR?
Often patients and medical professionals within the health care industry refer to electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) interchangeably; however, these two systems actually serve somewhat different purposes. As far as EHR is concerned it is the sum total of a digital patient medical record accumulated over a period of time across different healthcare setups. Where as EMR is a digital patient medical record created at an individual healthcare setup. There is sizeable difference between the two one is at a macro level where as the other version of digital medical record is at a micro level.
The EHR (electronic health records) data can come through different community health workers, physician clinics, diagnostic labs, hospitals, pharmacies, patients and so on. It is a collection of data that, which is created, complied and shared across the entire healthcare system. It may be made up of electronic medical records (EMRs) from many locations and/or sources. A variety of types of healthcare-related information may be stored and accessed in this way. Electronic health record systems of today have a much broader range of functionality compared to early EMR’s that were used by clinicians mostly for diagnosis and treatment.
A typical EHR (electronic health records) system would include the following important features: digital patient records created across a network of healthcare setups, ability to seamlessly share information across the entire healthcare system, integration capabilities, support for PQRI automation, software that is also adaptive learning, secure portability features, integrated patient portal, no right templates, effective document/image management, voice recognition and handwriting recognition technology and meets other technical and legal requirements. There are numerous federal and state regulatory and compliance issues that you must be aware of. Having an EMR Solution that has guidelines programmed in (and is constantly updated by the vendor’s system) will keep you legally safe all year round.
An EHR (electronic health record) loaded with above features may definitely help to streamline the overall process of physician (or hospital) workflow. It can deliver unmatched benefits to doctors by way of time savings, easy storage solution, benefits of integration, timely access of patient medical records, improved quality of patient service, reduction in costs and better profit margins (ROI) for the practice. As discussed earlier EHR data is the sum total of patient medical information compiled across different healthcare setups, this aides in the overall process of diagnosis and treatment leading into better quality of patient service and patient satisfaction.
EHR has an advantage over EMR, as in being an aggregate of electronic records of health-information accumulated over time; the information being able to be transferred and accessed within the health care organization. These records would provide all the relevant medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images and billing status information of an individual or population, which would in turn enhance patient – treatment and care. Not to mention avoiding the hassle of safe-keeping papers and reports, ensuring easy storage and retrieval of health records at any given time. An added advantage is that, information can be shared and updated among attending practitioners and health organizations with ease.
EHR is bound to become one of the means of taking medical services to new heights. The word “health” is a much broader term that covers much more than the word “medical” does. The EHR’s (electronic health records) of today simply go a lot further than that of early EMR’s.
Is There Any Difference Between EHR and EMR?
Often patients and medical professionals within the health care industry refer to electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) interchangeably; however, these two systems actually serve somewhat different purposes. As far as EHR is concerned it is the sum total of a digital patient medical record accumulated over a period of time across different healthcare setups. Where as EMR is a digital patient medical record created at an individual healthcare setup. There is sizeable difference between the two one is at a macro level where as the other version of digital medical record is at a micro level.
The EHR (electronic health records) data can come through different community health workers, physician clinics, diagnostic labs, hospitals, pharmacies, patients and so on. It is a collection of data that, which is created, complied and shared across the entire healthcare system. It may be made up of electronic medical records (EMRs) from many locations and/or sources. A variety of types of healthcare-related information may be stored and accessed in this way. Electronic health record systems of today have a much broader range of functionality compared to early EMR’s that were used by clinicians mostly for diagnosis and treatment.
A typical EHR (electronic health records) system would include the following important features: digital patient records created across a network of healthcare setups, ability to seamlessly share information across the entire healthcare system, integration capabilities, support for PQRI automation, software that is also adaptive learning, secure portability features, integrated patient portal, no right templates, effective document/image management, voice recognition and handwriting recognition technology and meets other technical and legal requirements. There are numerous federal and state regulatory and compliance issues that you must be aware of. Having an EMR Solution that has guidelines programmed in (and is constantly updated by the vendor’s system) will keep you legally safe all year round.
An EHR (electronic health record) loaded with above features may definitely help to streamline the overall process of physician (or hospital) workflow. It can deliver unmatched benefits to doctors by way of time savings, easy storage solution, benefits of integration, timely access of patient medical records, improved quality of patient service, reduction in costs and better profit margins (ROI) for the practice. As discussed earlier EHR data is the sum total of patient medical information compiled across different healthcare setups, this aides in the overall process of diagnosis and treatment leading into better quality of patient service and patient satisfaction.
EHR has an advantage over EMR, as in being an aggregate of electronic records of health-information accumulated over time; the information being able to be transferred and accessed within the health care organization. These records would provide all the relevant medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images and billing status information of an individual or population, which would in turn enhance patient – treatment and care. Not to mention avoiding the hassle of safe-keeping papers and reports, ensuring easy storage and retrieval of health records at any given time. An added advantage is that, information can be shared and updated among attending practitioners and health organizations with ease.
EHR is bound to become one of the means of taking medical services to new heights. The word “health” is a much broader term that covers much more than the word “medical” does. The EHR’s (electronic health records) of today simply go a lot further than that of early EMR’s.
Storing data and documents at present
Today, data centers include massive volumes of data and documents, which are increasing at a constant pace – a phenomenon we call Big Data. Although these systems are very modern, they are now becoming insufficient and require a considerable investment with very little practical use. This case is certainly going in crescendo, and requires a rapid and easily applicable remedy.
Cutting Edge Storage Methods, Not Only a Need but an Obligation
Apart from the importance of having the ability to efficiently manage high volumes of documents and data, large businesses must also address the legal requirements to conform. Obvious examples of this are financial and health organizations around the globe that are forced to save and store all their communications with clients safely, while respecting data discretion. Health organizations must store this information even beyond the lives of the patients involved. A certain example is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which applies to all health organizations in the United States.
It is obvious that effective and efficient data and document storage models are not only necessary, due to their large volume and the related expenses, but in addition because legislation obliges companies to ensure long-term data storage.
Different data storage models
As early as the starting of 2012, programmers began to define software architectures for data and document storage, which have shaped the most recent trend in data center formats.
In reality, normal data centers depending on hardware are making way for virtualization software program – a trend which is in accordance with the large amount of new business software applications which have transformed networks, PC´s and data storage levels.
Regarding data storage, the newest trend shows that level 1 applications (ERPs, email, etc.) are leaning towards virtualization system. This lowers both costs related to server acquisitions and also the difficulties arising from standard hardware-based choices.
An example would be the popular SSD flash based technologies, following a drastic drop in rates, in recent years, of solid state drives. This sort of device comes with a higher Reading and boot-up speed than mechanical hard disks, as well as a lot more secure data and document storage.
The importance of document management software for data storage
The apparent and huge expansion of stored data and documents requires not only hardware, but additionally specialized document management software, to make certain flexible process automation, to securely store information and to retrieve data on demand.
It is precisely in the data retrieval phase where good data management software tools become vital. In fact, if an end user or company cannot access its data or documents, any storage system results in being worthless. For this reason, the key features of any document management software application should not just be dedicated to data storage, nevertheless they must also include efficient and quick data search strategies. These techniques ought to be secure, via data access privileges and restrictions. Furthermore, document management software also need to provide a variety of operations, such as email deliveries, queries, printing, etc.
Another useful and increasingly popular device when it comes to data storage are the storage hypervisors, for easily supervising virtualized data. These devices also allows to increase availability, speed and use of data centers.
It seems clear that the industry for document management software and data storage is growing. Therefore, the main challenge of document management software firms providing such systems is to enable correct data management and, most importantly, efficient recovery of those vast volumes of data.