EMR vs. EHR – What is the Difference

With so many intrinsic differences between EMR and EHR, the term EMR means electronic medical records and EHR means electronic health records. Both the systems are used in the healthcare domain to maintain vital patient records in a paperless manner.

Here are some significant differences between EMR and EHR :

• The EMR is a digitized version of crucial patient records like medical history, medications, allergies, diagnoses, and immunization dates. EHR holds the health information of the patients in a digital manner like imaging reports, past medical history, progress notes and medications.

• EMRs are mostly used by clinics and hospitals and the vial information can be accessed within the confined entities of the firm. On the other hand, EHR covers a huge territory and the health-related information can be easily shared amongst doctors and different hospitals.

• EMR keeps the healthcare organization aware of the patient’s upcoming checkups or preventive screenings. The system manages and keeps a complete track of the vital record and improves the operational efficiency of the organization. In contrast, EHRs work on a broader spectrum and the system efficiently connects several laboratories and other healthcare providers on a single platform.

• Some of the benefits of EMR are timely reminder of preventative checkups and patient screening, keeping better track of time and boosting patient care services. EHR enables healthcare organizations and entities to update the real-time information and helps in complex treatment process.

Any healthcare firm that deals with protected health information needs to implement stringent security measures to safeguard the vital records. Once the firm establishes the EMR and EHR systems, all the patient information can be synced. Here is a complete list of records that can be saved under both EMR and EHR :

• Images of scans and x-rays that the patient had in earlier medical diagnosis
• Information of allergies that the patient suffers from
• List of medicines taken be the patient
• Complete medical history
• Other critical patient’s data