As a healthcare provider, your daily schedule is hectic — filled with back-to-back appointments, coordinating with other care specialists, and ordering and reviewing labs and diagnostic tests. To meet these demands, you need an easy way to quickly access, review, manage, and share patient information.
But paper medical records don’t allow for the quick and seamless integration of information or care, which is why many healthcare providers are moving to electronic health records (EHRs).
Keep reading to learn more about EHRs and how they compare to paper records.
Features of EHRs and paper records
While paper records have been a staple of healthcare for decades, they come with many restrictions that modern EHRs address. The table below highlights the key differences between paper versus electronic health records:
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The intrinsic limitations of paper records
Modern technology has transformed how you can access, store, manage, and protect health information. When compared against the benefits of digital records, the shortcomings of paper records are glaring and pose real risks to both your practice and your patients.
"The shortcomings of paper records are glaring and pose real risks to both your practice and your patients."
Key challenges associated with paper records include:
- Accuracy and security: Handwritten notes are prone to medication errors and misinterpretation. Physical records can be altered, damaged, or accessed without authorization, compromising data integrity and patient confidentiality.
- Accessibility and efficiency: Retrieving, sharing, and updating paper records are time-consuming, which can delay diagnoses and treatments.
- Loss and damage: Paper records are vulnerable to loss, theft, and damage from spills, fires, or natural disasters. They also deteriorate over time, leading to the loss of valuable historical data.
Modern healthcare practices adopt EHRs
By improving accuracy, enhancing security, and streamlining clinical workflows, EHRs address problems posed by paper records. Additionally, they help shift the time and attention providers previously spent maintaining manual paper records back to patient care.
Transitioning from paper records to EHRs offers significant advantages for healthcare providers and organizations, including:
- Enhanced accuracy and greater efficiency: Typed notes eliminate issues caused by poor handwriting and patient information is readily available. AI note-taking tools can save you even more time.
- Improved accessibility and communication: View and share information instantly and across care environments, enabling greater collaboration and continuity of care.
- Increased security: A HIPAA-compliant EHR protects patient data from unauthorized access.
- Cost-savings: Streamlined care leads to long-term monetary benefits.
Making the move to an EHR
The advantages of an EHR compared to traditional paper records are clear. EHRs eliminate issues like illegible handwriting and lost files, while greatly improving efficiency with documentation and administrative tasks.
By allowing multiple providers to instantly access and share information, EHRs also significantly reduce delays and enhance care coordination. Plus, they help empower patients to engage in their own care through secure online portals, while reducing the long-term costs associated with storage needs.
Overall, EHRs allow modern healthcare organizations to streamline operations while delivering a way for providers to quickly understand and focus on each patient’s specific care needs.
Gain more insight into how an EHR+ platform can enhance your healthcare practice. Book a free demo.
You might also be interested in
- How to select an EHR/EMR: Learn how to select an EHR and what to consider when determining the best EHR medical software for your practice.
- Top 5 administrative tasks to automate in your practice: Say goodbye to tedious tasks and get time back in the day.
- Want to see an EMR/EHR in action?: Book a free Tebra demo and experience how the right system can transform your practice.
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