According to Medical Economics’ 2019 EHR Scorecard report, more than 60% of physicians report that EHRs are harming patient engagement. Most of the physicians surveyed stated that they would not choose their current EHR system and would like to re-do the implementation. Now from a patient perspective, do they agree with their physicians?
The KFF created a Health Tracking Poll in January 2019 to dive into the pros and cons of EHRs for patients. Patients main concern is quality of care and privacy and errors.
Pro
- Physicians who use EHR have a lower rate of medication mistakes since they can follow along an accepted treatment guideline
- Patients can obtain and access their lab results, medical records/histories and more through their patient portals
- Patients are also able to identify any errors and bring them to attention right away
- Patient data can be shared in real time with the health organization (doctor, lab, hospital, etc) to work more effectively
Con
- Patient often see’s more than one physician, meaning they have multiple medical records and patient portals
- Interoperability comes into play and not all hospitals have the same EHR system
- Data is at risk with information being spread out on different systems rather than one
Due to the diverse nature of the US healthcare system, it is not currently possible for all doctors to be working under the same healthcare system. As such, access to patient data across systems is difficult, even with improved data interoperability. Present, there is no single point all providers could access to view an individuals’ data. However, as EHR programs continue to advance, this prospect may become a reality. If your EHR/EMR system is not working as well as you would like, read more here on the top 5 reasons for an EHR/EMR replacement.
This article was created by Stephanie Sok, Business Researcher, Global Healthcare IT, Inc. with assistance from the following base line articles: For more on each please click on the link.
Are you aware of the patient medical record sharing regulation in 2020? Read more here.
