What are Electronic Medical Records and why they matter

Emerge_LogoAs part of the Affordable Care Act, an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is the new way that all hospitals are required to keep patient records.

The EMR is an electronic version of the traditional paper based record which is held in a Hospital File or in Clinician’s notes, allowing sharing of information quickly and efficiently between health professionals / personnel in a secure manner without the need to physically share files and/or copying information from one document to another unnecessarily but digitally electronically in a way that is secure at the same time and without the chance of losing any information. If you need your medical records for legal information, a notary must witness that the copy is the same as the original. Those who are looking to notarize their documents may consider searching for a notary near me.

Our EMR Electronic Medical Records system keeps track of a patient’s entire health and medical history in a computerized, secure, electronic format.  This federally-mandated change helps HHSC hospitals, physicians, insurance companies, and other health providers to retrieve information much more easily than ever before, as well as make a patient’s stay or transfer much safer and more efficient.  All patient files, including history, diagnosis, medications, and other important information will be kept electronically and safely stored.

Health professionals and patients will have access to the information they require when required such as on the ward and also in the Consultant’s offices if a patient visits the consultant for a particular reason to be able to share information required to give the patient the best quality of care possible as required and not just from a physical point of view but also of psychological health and well being too using information that is in the system easily accessible when needed by the designated clinical teams to ensure care is provided to the patient in the best way possible rather than the old fashioned way. Any new information submitted by clinicians will also be stored in the system as changes take place so the need for unwanted photocopying of patients’ medical information will be avoided i.e. doctors will only need to upload any new information or changes to information provided at time of admission so that all patients records are kept up to date securely regardless of their hospital length of stay.

In May 2010, the HHSC East Hawaii region switched to EMR, which replaced paper patient charts. On February 1, 2013, the West Hawaii region started using our new system.  Maui Memorial Medical Center began use of their system on March 1, 2014.  The other HHSC regions are planning their transitions in this exciting, once-in-a-lifetime project to transform how care is managed within the family of their facilities. The project involves bringing technology to HHSC in a manner that will drive excellence and automation in all of our operations.