An electronic health record (EHR) refers to an individual patient's medical record in digital format. Electronic health record systems co-ordinate the storage and retrieval of individual records with the aid of computers. EHRs are usually accessed on a computer, often over a network. 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.
EHR systems can reduce medical errors.In one ambulatory healthcare study, however, there was no difference in 14 measures, improvement in 2 outcome measures, and worse outcome on 1 measure.
EHR systems are believed to increase physician efficiency and reduce costs, as well as promote standardization of care. Even though EMR systems with computerized provider order entry (CPOE) have existed for more than 30 years, less than 10 percent of hospitals as of 2006 have a fully integrated system.
Multiple terms have been used to define electronic patient care records, with overlapping definitions. Both electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) have gained widespread use, with some health informatics users assigning the term EHR to a global concept and EMR to a discrete localised record. For most users, however, the terms EHR and EMR are used interchangeably. An EHR system is also often abbreviated as EHR or EMR.
Health Information Technology is an even broader term that describes any computer-based electronic aid to healthcare delivery.
An electronic health record is a patient’s health record that has been compiled into a digital format.