EMR: The New Future of Portable Health

Last year, more than 60 doctors from the Barrie, Ont. area started an electronic medical record system (EMR) in their practices.

Investing their own money they updated their paper records to an integrated electronic system, one of the first and largest in Ontario.

Today, Ontario is laying the groundwork for EMR system integration into doctors offices throughout Ontario.

Although, I discovered a lot of information on EMR’s benefit to physicians there wasn’t a whole lot of discussion on how e-medicine will help patients.

Portability is the main one. Patients are able to travel to different care providers and have their health record (tests, physicians’ notes, nursing notes, medication record) essentially travel with them and be accessible to a range of primary care providers.

Doctors are better able to treat patients with comprehensive and immediate access to information and there is less duplication of things like diagnostic tests and assessments.

Due presumably to reduced workload, some docs say they are also able to see more patients due to EMR.

Of course, the future potential of EMR holds the largest promise. Imagine accessing your own health records through the Internet one day and being able to update your own health record. Far fetched? In 2006, plans were already underway to allow Sunnybrook patients to access and change their personal records.

Ontario MD is in charge of promoting and the integration of the Ontario’s transition to EMR. According to Ontario MD, A Clinical Management System (CMS) is a software application that combines the clinical and administrative aspects of practice management into an integrated electronic record.

Security and privacy is maintained through password access and regular audits of who and when access the network occurs.

Similar EMR systems have been arround for some time in Ontario hospitals and movement into the community is fast becomming the norm.