The Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

There are many cited benefits of having EHRs which have a positive impact on both the North American healthcare community at large and each individual patient. These benefits include:

1. Improved communication - between healthcare team members (ex. physicians, dieticians, pharmacies etc.) themselves, as well as between healthcare team members and patients

2. Patient empowerment - Patients can review all of their prescriptions and lab results at their request, and can improve self-care. In Denmark, this has been found to be particularly important for chronic disease management.

3. Improved adherence to preventive measures - Certain studies have suggested that electronically generated reminders for screening and follow-up increases adherence by 10% to 15%.

4. Improved delivery of recommended care  - In a baseline study completed in Boston, the Vanguard Group delivered recommended care about 60% of the time. Delivery of recommended care improved significantly, increasing to 90% by combining team-based practice with the EHR.

5. Nation-wide implementation of the EHR in the US - This included e-prescribing tools for medications with the necessary decision support tools built in. This in fact could reduce adverse drug events by two million annually, preventing approximately 190,000 hospitalizations.

6. Improvement of quality of patient care - E-health improves care by ensuring medications are appropriate and even making it possible to keep track of and respect patients' end-of-life treatment choices. In addition, individuals suffering from chronic conditions are often frustrated by the need to repeat their medical histories each time they see a new care provider. Both patients and their providers face challenges in keeping track of complex medication histories, challenges that could lead to medication errors.

7. Significant cost savings - Many studies have looked at the cost savings provided by the use of EHRs:
a) The Booz Allen Hamilton study in Canada estimated a $6 billion savings annually with a fully developed EHR
b) In 2005-2006, The Ontario Telehealth Network saved approximately $5.2 million in travel grants alone,  avoiding 20 million kilometres of travel
c) In the US, cost benefits are estimated at $3 for every $1 spent on e-health in primary care, translating to an annual benefit of $44 yearly  

8. Reduction in hospital stays and long-term care admissions - Evaluations of users of EHR/ EMR services have found:
    a) 34% to 40% fewer emergency room visits
    b) Over 32% fewer hospitalizations and up to 60% fewer hospital days
    c) 47% reduction in long term care admissions.

Overall, EHRs provide many benefits from everyone to the physician to each patient or e-health user. Future studies will most likely continue to reveal even greater benefits for quality of patient care as well as greater cost savings.

The PDF source document for this summary can be viewed at:
http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/Admin/Upload/Dev/Document/Conference%20Executive%20Summary_EN.pdf