EMR Definition

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In January 2005, Modern Healthcare explored the ongoing confusion over the difference between electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) and pointed out that the public has not made a distinction between EHRs and EMRs and many healthcare professionals are not clear on the difference, either.

Pat Wise at Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, said that EMRs are what currently exist in most practices that have adopted electronic record, but that EHRs "are what the nation aspires to and what President Bush calls for." An EHR includes a personal health record - which includes information such as symptoms or disease management data inputted by the patient - as well as an EMR or an EMR summary, according to Wise. She noted that while an EHR may not contain all the health care information collected over a lifetime, it can contain pointers to where additional information can be found, Modern Healthcare reports.

"An electronic medical record is owned by the organization, practice or corporation that you received your health care from - be it St. Elsewhere, County-Municipal, or Doc Smith," Wise explained. "When you're discharged from St. Elsewhere, you know they don't hit the 'delete' button and wipe out everything. And while that information is theirs to own, it's also expected that it's theirs to protect," she said.

The electronic medical record is used soley by the provider (physician, clinic, hospital) that creates the record. It becomes an electronic health record when:

1. reports and histories (labs, pharmacy, radiology, consults, etc) are electronically added;

2. items in the record are electronically exchanged with other providers, and

3. there is a personal health record (PHR/PMR) component which allows patients to participate in documenting and creating their medical history and communicate with their provider.

In October 2005 Healthcare Informatics provided a simple overview of the difference:

"EMRs are computerized legal clinical records created in CDOs, such as hospitals and physician offices. EHRs represent the ability to easily share medical information among stakeholders and to allow it to follow the patient through various modalities of care from different CDOs."

For more EMRs and EHRs visitChristina's Considerations and Christina's Considerations