Electronic Health Records Frequently Asked
Questions
What are Electronic Health Records (EHRs)?
What are the
benefits of EHRs?
What are the factors that are driving the need for EHRs in hospitals and
physician practices?
How do
I start an initiative to develop and implement an EHR strategy?
How can I get EHR product information and compare EHR products?
Why do I need to analyze and improve processes as part of an EHR
initiative?
What are Electronic Health Records (EHRs)?
A high-level introduction to Electronic Health Records
appears on the EHR
Overview Home page.
The following articles on the
EHR
Introductory Articles page provide basic EHR information:
EHR vs. CPR vs. EMR
Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System
The ABCs of CPRs and EMRs
The following articles on the
EHR Reports page provide
more in-depth EHR information:
Electronic Health Record Definition, Scope, and Context
HIMSS Electronic Health Record Definitional Model v1-0
HL7 EHR System Functional Model: A Major Development Towards
Consensus on Electronic Health Record System Functionality - White
Paper
The following links on the
EHR Links Home page
provide basic and some in-depth EHR information:
EHR Mind Map: A Comprehensive Resource Guide
Electronic Medical Records - basic info
HL7 Electronic
Health Record Functional Model and Standard
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What are the benefits of EHRs?
The ehrCentral
Home page lists basic benefits of implementing EHRs.
The following articles on the
EHR
Introductory Articles page discuss the benefits of EHRs:
Ambulatory EMR - Establishing a Business Case
Are EMRs Right for Your Practice
Electronic Medical Records: Why Their Time Has Come
How Benefits Can Outweigh Costs of Electronic Records
Physicians Improve Quality of Care, Save Valuable Time, and Increase
Reimbursements through EMR System
The Need for Electronic Medical Records in Primary Care
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What are the factors that are driving the need for EHRs in hospitals and
physician practices?
According to the
Medical Records Institute’s Sixth Annual Survey of Electronic Health
Record Trends and Usage for 2004,
the following factors, in priority order, are driving the need for
Electronic Health Records in hospitals and
physician practices:
|
Hospitals |
|
Physician Practices |
|
Share patient information
among health care practitioners and professionals |
|
Improve clinical processes
or workflow efficiency |
|
Improve clinical processes
or workflow efficiency |
|
Improve quality of care |
|
Reduce medical errors
(improve patient safety) |
|
Improve clinical
documentation to support appropriate billing service
levels |
|
Improve quality of care |
|
Share patient information
among health care practitioners and professionals |
|
Facilitate clinical
decision support |
|
Reduce medical errors
(improve patient safety) |
|
Improve clinical data
capture |
|
Provide access to patient
records at remote locations |
|
Provide access to patient
records at remote locations |
|
Improve clinical data
capture |
|
Improve clinical
documentation to support appropriate billing service
levels |
|
Establish a more efficient
and effective information infrastructure as a
competitive advantage |
|
Meet the requirements of
legal, regulatory, or accreditation standards |
|
Contain or reduce
healthcare delivery costs |
|
Contain or reduce
healthcare delivery costs |
|
Meet the requirements of
legal, regulatory, or accreditation standards |
|
Establish a more efficient
and effective information infrastructure as a
competitive advantage |
|
Facilitate clinical
decision support |
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How do I start an initiative to develop and implement an EHR strategy?
If you do not already have some knowledge about EHRs and
their implementation, browse the
EHR
Introductory Articles
EHR Case
Study Articles
EHR
Implementation Articles
pages and read the articles of interest to
you. Also, consider reading one or more of the books listed on the
EHR Bibliography
page.
To succeed:
An EHR initiative must
focus on the people and the processes involved in delivering the
healthcare services, while using technology as the enabler, the
resource that makes it possible to perform the tasks, activities, or
processes.
An EHR strategy needs to be developed prior to embarking on the EHR
implementation. Change Management must be part of the strategy since
moving to an EHR environment is all about change (see
EHR
Transformation Home
page).
The project teams throughout the duration of the initiative, even in
smaller healthcare provider environments, need to have full-time or part-time
dedicated personnel assigned to the initiative who will accurately address the three areas
of: people, process, and technology. If the healthcare organization does
not have expertise in all of these areas, appropriate independent
consultants should be hired (see the
EHR
Consultant Firms Links page for some suggestions) or pertinent
consulting services should be purchased from an EHR product vendor
(see the
EHR Products & Services Links page) to assist with
relevant portions of the initiative, including total project management.
The EHR Overview page
outlines the
Typical Phases of an
EHR Implementation.
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How can I get EHR product information and compare EHR products?
The following articles on the
EHR
Implementation Articles page discuss EHR product selection as well
as some details about the vendors and the products:
2003 EMR Survey Summary Report
2004 EMR Survey Summary Report
CPRs in the Winner's Circle
Evaluating and Selecting Electronic Medical Record Systems
Getting an EMR Up and Running
Herding Cats: The Challenges of EMR Vendor Selection
How to Select a Computer System for a Family Physician's Office
Industry Awards for EMR Systems
Small-Practice EMRs
The
links on the
EHR
Products & Services Links page provide information about
specific EHR products.
The following links on the
EHR Links Home page
provide EHR product comparisons and information tools:
Ambulatory EMR Selector
American Academy of Family Physicians' Practice Management
Computerization
CTS Medical Software Selection
Digital Physician
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Comparisons By Physicians for
Physicians
KLAS
Enterprises
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Why do I need to analyze and improve processes as part of an EHR
initiative?
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the
English Language, Fourth Edition defines
process as:
A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing
about a result: the process of digestion; the process of
obtaining a driver's license.
According to Dr. H. James Harrington, who is a
recognized world leader in applying performance improvement
methodologies to business processes and an author of Business Process
Improvement and Business Process Improvement Workbook:
"Automating a bad process not only ensures that
we can do a bad job every time, but that we can do it faster and
with less effort than before".
The late Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an
international guru on quality and productivity management, made the
following statement in his classic work Out of the Crisis:
"Improving processes is the only way to
improve quality".
At the beginning stages of an EHR initiative, it is
essential to analyze the clinical and business processes used by a
healthcare organization to determine what needs to stay the same and
what needs to change to improve work flow and the effectiveness of the
organization. Process analysis and improvement must be an integral part
of the EHR strategy and implementation otherwise the organization will
not achieve their goals for creating a more effective and profitable
environment.
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