EMR/EHR

Electronic medical records (EMR) are a digital version of a patient’s chart that store their personal information, medical history and links to prior exams, texts and reports. The goal of these systems is to enable immediate access to the patient's data electronically, rather than needing to request paper file folders that might be stored in fragment files at numerous locations where a patient is seen or treated. EMRs (also called electronic health records, or EHR) improve clinician and health system efficiency by making all this data immediately available. This helps reduce repeat tests, repeat prescriptions and repeat imaging exams because reports, imaging or other patient data is not not immediately available. 

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GAO: Before Cerner transition, VA spent $1B a year on EHR

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is about to undergo a massive, $16 billion revamp of its electronic health record (EHR) system. A month after a $10 million deal with Cerner was finalized, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) released a report that found the VA spent $3 billion on EHR support between 2015 and 2017.

VA announces EHR oversight hearing

Representatives Phil Roe, MD, R-Tennessee, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (VA), and Tim Walz, D-Florida, Ranking Member of the House VA Committee, have announced the “VA Electronic Health Record Modernization: The Beginning of the Beginning”—a that hearing will take place Tuesday, June 26, at 10 a.m.

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Allscripts offers buyouts to employees

Allscripts, the Chicago-based electronic health record (EHR) company, has confirmed it is offering buyouts to employees, according to reporting from POLITICO.

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Struggles with EHR create frustration among physicians

Attending emergency department (ED) physicians experienced increased levels of frustration due to difficulties using electronic health records (EHRs), according to a study published May 16 in Applied Clinical Informatics.

Physicians see value in EHRs, but want improvements

American physicians see value in electronic health records (EHRs), but they still want substantial improvements, according to a survey by Stanford Medicine and conducted by The Harris Poll.

Nurse satisfaction with EHR reaches 79%—up 55% since 2014

Electronic health records have been a punching bag for many in medicine, with frequent complaints focusing on implementation problems, interference in the patient physician relationship and increased burden on care providers. Despite such problems, EHRs are making progress, with a recent survey finding 79 percent of nurses are satisfied with their systems.

25% of organizations fully adhere to ONC's SAFER guidelines for EHRs

Healthcare organizations’ adherence to the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guidelines is low, according to a study published April 26 in the Journal of Information in Health and Biomedicine.

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VA launches system providing patients with medical images

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched a new online system providing patients with access to medical images and study reports.

Around the web

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.