Benefits and Drawbacks of Electronic Health Record

Electronic Health Record or EHR as they are more popularly known have emerged as the most needed and the most basic healthcare software. EHR have proved to be the backbone of the health insurance exchange and health information exchange. The medical information stored in the EHR is sourced by the exchange platforms to give more information about insurance and health plans.

Though storing of information in electronic form is always a good idea, it has its side effects too. Here is a look at some of the benefits and disadvantages of adopting Electronic Health Records.

ADVANTAGES:

1.    Though the process of converting paper records to EHR may seem costly, the National Health Accounts will have some major savings up it sleeves. This could in turn be invested in better healthcare facilities and government sponsored health insurance programs. After the implementation of the EHR, Medicare will be able to receive about $23 billion more in federal funding.
2.    With the EHR getting implemented the margin of error and misinterpretation of the medical data will be minimized.  Access of data to all those who are authorized to do so including all the healthcare service providers involved will ensure that the patient does not have to undergo the same tests repeatedly.  Also in cases of emergency healthcare can be administered faster as doctors will have easier and quicker access to the medical history of the patient.
3.    A record of previous medical history, the medicine taken and the surgeries undertaken will form the basis for further course of treatment. The effectiveness of the previous treatments can be reviewed and analyzed before deciding the new course of action.
4.    The large amount of clinical data available through the Electronic Health Records will form the basis of several researches for effective medical practices.
5.    Electronic data is easy to store and can be interconnected to form a bigger grid with more access to a larger number of people. This will lead to greater mobility of information.

DISADVANTAGES
 
1.    The entire process of converting all the paper record to electronic format could prove to be really expensive.
2.    The process is time consuming as well
3.    Many conservative doctors and healthcare service providers may not be too receptive about the intervention of healthcare IT and healthcare softwares in providing medical care.

Healthcare software such as the Electronic Health Records have played a major role in making IT an intrinsic part of the health industry. However, the disadvantages of these softwares need to be tackled so that benefits of implementing these softwares can become more effective.