Paper-based Patient Records (PPR) vs. Electronic Health Records (EHR)
The role of patient records has always involved multiple purposes – especially legal, communication, accreditation, research, regulatory, decision making and education. The primary change during recent years has revolved around the evolution from paper-based personal health records to electronic health records.
Accessibility of Patient Records
The accessibility questions surrounding paper versus electronic records boil down to “who?” and “when?” – electronic medical records are accessible by all authorized professionals simultaneously and immediately as long as they have access to the main storage system. On the other hand, paper-based patient records are available on only a one-at-a-time basis – sharing requires mailing or conversion into an electronic format by scanning or emailing. With the physical mail option for PPR, accessibility can be a matter of days instead of seconds with EHR.
Paper medical records discourage interactivity among stakeholders while electronic health records create an opportunity for immediate feedback. With PPR, many patients never see their own health files. One of the most striking changes with EHR procedures is the active inclusion of patients in keeping and reviewing personal health records. With the rapidly advancing state of technology, both health care professionals and patients want “real-time information” that is standard with EHR – this is one of the primary benefits of electronic health records.
Reliability of Patient Records
When health care organizations transition from paper to electronic records, improved reliability is a major goal of the entire process. For example, poor penmanship by doctors and other health care professionals has always been a serious potential flaw when dealing with paper medical records. EHR computers and word-processing applications eliminate this major PPR source of unreliability.
Electronic health records are organized in ways that are literally impossible with a paper filing arrangement. Errors and improper documentation in EHRs produce alerts that highlight improper entries.
Cost Factors
Prudent health care organizations cannot afford to overlook any opportunity to save both time and money – an EHR process does both. According to HITEC-LA, each dollar spent on EHR results in two more dollars on the bottom line.
A reduction in storage costs means much more than eliminating warehouses filled with paper records. Electronic records are also eco-friendly and can be stored indefinitely without deterioration in quality. For example, this feature of EHR can result in important medical data being available long after physical files have already faded – or destroyed entirely by a natural disaster.
With electronic health records, hospitals and other health care providers will also be in a better negotiating position for managed care contracts.
Quality of Care Considerations
Delivering better care to patients serves a primary mission for any health care professional. One way that EHR can actively contribute to a higher quality of care is by improving public health monitoring – speedier reporting of infectious diseases can be facilitated by more detail and quicker feedback made possible by electronic records processes. Automatic EHR reminders typically reduce mistakes, errors and omissions.
Security and Compliance Considerations
Security vulnerabilities can be present in both PPRs and EHRs. Both formats can result in theft and be exposed to the risk of loss from other events such as floods and fire. With paper records that are limited to one copy, EHR provides a security edge with backup copies. Health care professionals should devote plenty of attention to this area – don’t cut corners when deciding how to handle compliance and security concerns for your records transition process.
Productivity
What is it worth to save the time required to pull a chart? – or to eliminate lost charts? According to one study, overall efficiency will improve by 6 percent annually with EHRs.
Productivity will improve in ways that you might not expect with electronic health records. For example:
- Fewer pharmacy callbacks
- Ease of communicating with the entire care team
- Less overall time filling out forms
- More clarity when reading prescriptions and medical terminology
We would appreciate hearing comments and stories from health care professionals about your personal experiences with EHRs versus PPRs. If you are in the process of transitioning from paper-based patient records to electronic health records, please remember to touch base with DataEntryOutsourced before your next step. Outsourcing to DEO can save you time and money while improving overall quality, all without hiring additional employees.
– Data Entry Outsourced
