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Key Facets of Electronic Health Records Software

The use of electronic health records in hospitals around the US is growing, given the continued penetration of new technology in the health sector. An effective electronic health records system should feature programs that are essential to the needs of a health office.

An electronic health records software should have the following capabilities

Accessibility

Electronic medical records are normally retrieved during predictable times, especially during patient visits. The electronic medical records software should make the data available universally. Upon the parent's permission, the data should also be made available as reference for research or basis for future tests.

Comprehensiveness

Since care is usually given by different physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other providers, each care giver must be knowledgeable about the practice of others to determine what has been done in the past. Outpatient records should list data, such as medications, allergies, procedures, appointment history, list of complicatins, family history and test results, patient correspodence and discharge summaries. The software must also ensure that records are preserved for a lifetime, to make sure that the data can be easily retrieved in the future.

Interoperability

Different electronic health records software should allow sharing of records between systems, seamless data transfer between different software, such as hospital computer systems, doctors' offices, clinics and home computers of patients. The absence of interoperability will result in fragmetation of electronic medical records.

Confidentiality

Patients should have the right to decide who can analyze their electronic health records. The electronic health records software should present an option that enables a patient to decide whether or not to close or open access to his medical records. Access to different parts of the records should normally be independently authorized.

Flexibility

Most patients will likely choose to make their electronic medical records available to those involved in improving medical practices, costs related to care and education for future healthcare practitioners. The electronic health records software should enable patients to deny or grant access to specific parts of their medical data.

In choosing the right electronic health records software the buyer must determine the importants tasks that should be addressed by the system.

The electronic health records software should manage the following basic tasks

- Patient correspondence documentation: includes medical history of patient, health charts

- Scheduling of doctor's appointments and confirmation of arrival

- Billing and accounts: creation and management of a patient's hospital accounts, charges for treatments and payments made

- Inter-office online communication: includes phone messaging and e-mails that enables open and constant communication between hospital staff and patients

- Anaylsis and actions taken on laboratory results

The search for the right electronic health records software starts once the said priorities are determined. Selection will also depent the budget for implementation, compatibility, training and tools.

A wide selection of electronic health records software is available in the market and each one caters to a specific practice. Health offices should be aware about office size and specialty.

The growing use of electronic health records software indicates a strong start to the next evolution of medical technology. Current systems should not make users feel restricted towards the processes and structure. For electronic health records to solve the fragmentation of health data, the software should ensure that the data can be accessed universally and the privacy of patients. Systems need to be designed based on the needs of patients and public standards.
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