The Difference Between EMR and EHR

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The terms electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR) are often used interchangeably, however, there are some slight differences between them.

Electronic Medical Records:

EMR is defined as “The electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created, gathered, managed, and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff from a single organization who are involved in the individual’s health and care” by the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT). EMR software is owned and managed by the hospital or clinic that provides the patient care. It contains all the medical information of a patient.

Electronic Health Records:

In contrast, NAHIT defines EHR as “Aggregate electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created and gathered cumulatively across more than one health care organization, and is managed and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff involved in the individual’s health and care.”

Based on these definitions of EMR and EHR, the main difference between them is that EHR provides a more inclusive and thorough view of a patient’s health history. It does this by integrating information from all electronic health systems, which is known as EHR interoperability. An EHR software record, compared to an EMR one, will contain a complete summary of medical and health reports from various sources. It can contain lab reports, clinical results, referrals, and physician notes.

Medicalrecords.com refers uses the terms EMR and EHR interchangeably.