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Impact of Electronic Medical Records

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Impact of Electronic Medical Records
April 7, 2013 Technology has brought the world of medical services a long way throughout the years, including the introduction of electronic medical records (EMR). But does the use of the EMRs benefit patients or does it put patient confidentiality at risk? First, to understand the impact EMRs have on each and every one of us, understanding of EMRs is necessary. “An electronic medical record is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient’s medical history from one practice”. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , 2012) EMRs allow medical providers to access information quickly and accurately. There are many benefits to using EMRs over paper copies, such as allowing providers to track data over time, identify patients who are due for preventive visits and screenings, monitor how patients measure up to certain parameters, and most importantly improve overall quality of care in a practice. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , 2012) Paper copies of medical records require enormous amounts of storage space to maintain compared to EMRs. Providers are required that records be retained for a certain amount of time. “Providers should keep health information for at least the period specified by the state's statute of limitations or for a sufficient length of time for compliance with laws and regulations”. (Donna M. Fletcher, Gwen Hughes, & Harry Rhodes, 2011) Physicians tend to have poor handwriting, thus electronic versions can alleviate any errors from illegible records.
Do the benefits of using EMRs outweigh the ethical issues that it may impose? Two downsides of EMRs are the cost of implementation and the way they affect patient’s sensitive information. First, implementing such a vast database of information is very costly. Physicians must take into consideration what using

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