The last several years have disrupted the healthcare industry. A necessary shift has been made in the management of patient care. Electronic health records (EHR) is a digital patient record-keeping system that is quickly becoming the foundation of the healthcare system. The future of EHR is evolving, and if there is one thing we know it is that technology is here to stay.

What Is the Future of Electronic Health Records?

Prior to 2020 over 90% of hospitals had already implemented new  EHR technology. Since then that number has only increased. The pandemic forced a shift in patient data management and care delivery. Over the last several years EHR has proven to be a reliable and necessary operating system within the healthcare industry. As a result, EHR is being designed to support anticipated telehealth growth in the coming years. Review a list of features that are paving the way for the future of electronic health records and overall healthcare management.

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Automation: The future of EHR will continue to assist healthcare organizations to automate processes. Hospitals have the option to sync their IT and healthcare workflows. 

Improved Patient Care: Electronic health records make patient data accessible. Providers have on-demand access to the most current information at all times, ensuring patients receive the care that they need.

Intercommunication: EHR makes the exchange of patient information possible. EHR specialists can access and discuss patient information from a single HIPAA-compliant platform. Future trends of EHR improve patient care by making communication between departments possible. 

Organization: A single patient file can have up to thousands of pages of data. These records come in all forms including reports, imaging, disks, and more. EHR provides a secure way to keep track of this information. 

Reduce Costs: If an EHR system is successfully implemented and regularly updated, it has the potential to reduce costs. The future of Electronic Health Records  will continue to automate processes and reduce costly manual labor.

Reliability: EHR is a self-sufficient system. In recent years we have seen the effects of staff shortages in the healthcare system. Should staffing become problematic, EHR proves to operate seamlessly. 

Telehealth: EHR industry trends integrate EHR systems with telehealth. Telehealth makes care accessible to patients unable to find transportation to an office or to patients who live in remote areas. 

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Can EHR Replace the Paper Record?

EHR is a secure HIPAA-compliant platform that protects patient data. Patient information can become compromised with paper-based systems. With new EHR technology, authorized access must be granted before a provider can review a document. EHR ensures confidential patient data is kept safe and secure. 

EHR is protected by secure login portals and encryption. EHR keeps a record of who last accessed a file. In many cases, this can even be seen in the report. This gatekeeping ensures patient data does not fall into the wrong hands and patient data remains accurate. This aids healthcare facilities during auditing. 

While a paper record may be copied there is only a single source of truth, the original. With EHR, patient data is backed up on the cloud or external server. In the event, a hacker disrupts the system, IT can wipe the system of recent activity and restore it with backup data.

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How Electronic Health Records Can Be Improved?

While EHR made patient care possible over the last several years there is always work to be done. The design of EHR is continually evolving. The structure and customization of these records currently are being evaluated. EHR industry trends are focusing on further improving  workflows and clinical efficiency. 

Electronic health records maintain security within a health system. EHR ensures a system is HIPAA compliant, protects patient information, and provides multiple sources of truth. To ensure these systems maintain their high level of security clinical test cases are run to assess patient security and maintain HIPAA compliance. These test cases address potential security threats prior to a security attack and ensure patient data remains confidential. 

EHR has proven to be reliable, and necessary, and has advanced healthcare. There are no limitations to how far EHR trends will go. However one thing is for certain, the future of EHR systems will continue to evolve to support the needs of modern healthcare.