Also known as an electronic medical records (EMR), this is a digital record of a patient’s medical information and health history, often now integrated with doctor’s notes, test results, etc.
Deeper dive
EHRs can include information from inpatient stays, outpatient visits, operations, diagnoses, allergies, radiology images, prescribed medications and immunizations. They are supposed to be instantly available in a secure format to all providers authorized to access it, and increasingly, to patients. EHRs also allow access to evidence-based databases and other tools to help providers make care decisions. Some concerns about EHRs include providers having a large documentation burden, the potential for hacking and privacy breaches, and in some cases, a lack of interoperability of EHR systems, so experts may not be easily able to review information for a patient moving from one hospital to another.