Electronic Health Records

Effective implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) goes beyond introducing EHR technology in a single clinical setting.  It means being able to share EHRs in a secure fashion among healthcare providers nationwide.  The Healthcare Information Management Systems Sociery (HIMSS) defines the EHR (PDF - 40KB) as follows.

“The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a secure, real-time, point-of-care, patientcentric information resource for clinicians. The EHR aids clinicians’ decisionmaking by providing access to patient health record information where and when they need it and by incorporating evidence-based decision support. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician’s workflow, closing loops in communication and response that result in delays or gaps in care. The EHR also supports the collection of data for uses other than direct clinical care, such as billing, quality management, outcomes reporting, resource planning, and public health disease surveillance and reporting.”