Electronic Medical Records
Kay Vining
Rasmussen College

This paper is being submitted on November 23, 2014 for Introduction to Health Information Management Course.

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS

The electronic medical record (EMR) is a digital version of a patient’s medical record that contains the same information as paper records except it comes in electronic form. The EMR is much more secure than paper records. The access of EMR is limited to staff who have an authorization for treatment, payment, or operation purposes. The EMR system is designed to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to a patient’s medical record through safeguards. The system is intended to track patient’s entire health and medical history in an electronic format. A patient’s information can easily be retrievable and can make a patient navigate through the health care system much safer and more efficient. The electronic medical record can help organize patient information better, such as diagnoses, medications, and test results in a way that makes guidelines easier to follow. It can provide automated prompts and reminders for when test are due or when control of chronic disease is suboptimal. Through a tracking system and disease registries the EMR can improve patient care from outside to identify potential quality problems. It is extremely important to maintain patient confidently. Any indication of a breach can weaken the trust between a physician and patient. Confidently safeguards information that has been gathered in the context of an intimate relationship between physician and patient. It does help keep information exchanged from being disclosed to third parties. The EMR system protects electronic patient’s records when the information is