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The words Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) are the most common buzz words used in USA health care industry. Most of the people think that these two terms are same, but in fact they are not. It is important to understand the difference between EHR and EMR to improve the quality and efficiency of health care.
On various EMR forums, different people have described the difference between EHR and EMR in various ways which creates more confusion. In simple words, an Electronic medical record is used only for patients’ diagnosis and treatment. While the electronic health record is a really broad term that incorporates information far more than the electronic medical record. The main difference between EHR and EMR lies in the scope of information and record sharing. An EHR contains centralized information about the complete healthcare of a patient. The information comes from multiple sources such as practices, pharmacies, and insurance companies. The information can shared and retrieved anywhere across the country. Contrary to it, the EMR contains only clinical information and it does not allow record sharing.
To be clear about the difference between EHR and EMR, we can say that an EMR is the source of data for EHR. An EHR is more advanced, pulls information from multiple sources and is created by combining EMRs. There are number of organizations which specialize both in EMRs and EHRs. As an example, Medical transcription Billing Company is the organization that has years of experience and is serving the practitioners in USA with its EHRs and EMRs solutions. You can contact the company to know more about EHRs and EMRs.