There are more than 175 million health-related searches on the Internet per day. And the number is growing every day. With more and more people prioritizing their health and seeking medical information, Electronic Health Records (EHR) are treasure-troves of data for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers.

So, what is EHR?

EHR is a digital collection of information updated in real-time where each record pertains to a patient's medical history. This record integrates information from different sources such as hospitals, laboratories, clinicians, physicians, etc., and is accessible to authorized users.

Here's how EHR can be beneficial for different sectors of people:

• For patients

  Coordinate better between caregivers and health providers by having all the medical data on the patient in one space in an integrated manner.

  Aid caregivers in managing patients actively and tracking symptoms, treatment details, etc.

  Experience improved outcomes due to increased efficiency through healthcare systems that track all patient vitals effectively.

  Manage health-related information efficiently to reduce difficulty when changing health care providers or managing insurance claims.

• For healthcare providers

  Improved efficiency through integrated scheduling systems to manage appointments, progress notes, and claims.

  Generate reports and correlations between different parameters that can aid diagnosis and improve outcomes

  Improved documentation and tracking of patient information like vital parameters, treatment details, etc.

  Improved patient health through patient education and chronic illness management.

  Emerging Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence-based strategies can help refine the capabilities of information processing in healthcare by building a better prognostic framework.

  Optimize time and resources during patient discharge, billing, etc., resulting in more accurate billing and reduction in lost charges

Conclusion

While the bulk of the data in health care (80%) is still unstructured, the potential to use this data to transform patient care and provide effective healthcare is immense. User-friendly EHR technologies can enable the efficient and timely transfer of healthcare data for quality patient care.