EMR or Electronic Medical Records are online medical records of the standard medical and clinical data from one provider’s office, mostly used by providers for diagnosis and treatment. EMRs are more than just a replacement for paper records. They effectively allow communication and coordination among members of a healthcare team for optimal patient care. Also, EMRs allow clinicians to:
- Track data over time
- Easily identify which patients are due for preventive screenings or checkups
- Check how their patients are doing on certain parameters—such as blood pressure readings or vaccinations
- Monitor and improve overall quality of care within the practice
EHR or Electronic Health Records focus on the total health of the patient and going beyond standard clinical data collected in the provider’s office and inclusive of a broader view on a patient’s care. They are built to share information with other health care providers, such as laboratories and specialists. The benefits of EHRs:
- Gathering information and can tell the about the patients life-threatening situation.
- A patient can log on to his own record and see the trend of the lab results over the last year.
- It can help motivate him to take his medications.
- Can help inform the follow-up care and enable the patient to move from one care setting to another smoothly.