Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Health Care?

I just read a paper written by R. Hillestead et.al in 2005  and I was intrigued by the topic and its relevance today.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/5/1103.long

I’m not focusing on the title, although it has relevance – ‘Electronic Medical Record (EMR)’ versus ‘Electronic Health Record (EHR)’. The context is still very relevant today.

I do believe Healthcare IT can significantly transform the landscape, but we are not there yet. What has started is the ‘foundation’. Adoption of EMR is the broad groundwork; primarily because the first goal is to enable change. Change in Provider’s mindsets about the use of technology.

There is one reason why I believe in ‘Web-based EMR‘ or ‘Cloud EMR‘ or ‘SaaS EMR’. That reason has to do with the ultimate goal of transforming healthcare costs. Web-based EMR makes the sharing of data and therefore reducing costs possible.

I leave it to you to decide if we’ve made progress.

Author: Chandresh Shah

Chandresh Shah specializes in Healthcare IT and Medical Billing. He knows the market inside out; what works, what doesn’t. He advises and works with small business owners.