EMR vs EHR: What is the difference? Actually, the two terms are significantly different. However, these terms are frequently confused because some in the industry use them synonymously. I'm here to help you understand how the two are different.

The easiest way I can help you know the difference is through the terms of medical and health. An EMR (electronic medical record) has a very specific focus on a patient's medical past. However, an EHR (electronic health record) looks at a much broader view of a patient's health as a whole.

If you use an EMR or EHR, is it digital or paper? Comment below with the answer. I'm just curious how many of you are using each one.

EMR vs EHR: What is an EMR?

EMRs are digital or electronic versions of paper records of a patient's medical history. So, if you're a clinician, you take and keep notes of your patient's medical past. This is usually diagnosis and treatment information. The federal government started pushing medical providers to use EMRs instead of paper records years ago.

There are several reasons for this:

  1. Digital records provide more data that can be tracked over time
  2. They help you as a health care professional get patients in for important preventative visits such as health screenings
  3. Improves the quality of health care and patient monitoring

EMR vs EHR: What is an EHR?

The purpose of EHRs is to have more than just the usual medical data by having a more complete view of a patient's overall health. A good EHR will have all of the information from all of the medical professionals caring for a patient. But EHRs don't stop there. They also help you (the care provider) communicate and share patient information with other providers including laboratories, specialists, etc. Essentially, EHRs help you follow patients throughout their medical journey and make it easier for you to provide better care.

This is also incredibly useful if you're the patient because it prevents you from having to coordinate hospital visits and relay information from doctor to doctor. This was all started in the government's Meaningful Use program designed to help health care providers provide better care and lower costs. You can learn more about Meaningful Use here.

If you're looking for a new behavioral health EHR, you can learn what to look for here. One key thing to look for in an EHR is one that gives you a way to easily communicate about patients' needed care without violating HIPAA.

EMR vs EHR: How does an Electronic Health Record improve patient care?

The purpose of EMRs and EHRs is to correct inefficiencies. In addition to helping you communicate internally and with other medical practices about patients in a HIPAA compliant manner, they also do the following:

  • Reduce the time needed to pull charts
  • Improve access to complete patient data
  • Make scheduling appointments easier and more efficient
  • Give you remote access to your patients' charts
  • Help manage prescriptions
  • Cut down on duplicate testing. This saves you and the patient time and money
  • Improve relationships within your practice and other disciplines through better communication
  • Make it easier to pull a patient's chart information by removing handwritten information
  • Aid diagnosis by helping you see a patient's complete medical history
  • Track a patient's allergies and medications
  • Automatically check for problems and conflicts when a new medication is prescribed
  • Patients can log in and see their health records, test results, etc over time.

How are EMRs and EHRs interdependent?

By now you can probably see that even though the terms EMR and EHR are frequently used synonymously, they actually mean very difficult things. But they frequently work together. If you're looking for a new behavioral health or substance abuse EHR or EMR software, you can get a free demo of ours here. In the demo, you'll see how our EMR and EHR software work together.

So, how do EMRs and EHRs depend on each other? The answer is actually pretty simple. While an EMR is used primarily to look at a patient's health in that clinic, that information only tells part of the story. By sharing your patients' information with other practices, specialties, laboratories, etc., you're able to give them better, more complete care. This gives the patient less to keep track of in their medical care. They're interdependent because the EMR is needed to improve communication and coordination in a particular practice while the EHR then helps multiple practices communicate and coordinate patient care.

How much does it cost to implement an EHR system?

Now that you've seen how useful and effective EMRs and EHRs can be for your medical practice if you don't have an EHR, you should get one, and it should be a great one. But how much does it cost to implement an EHR system?

According to HealthIT.gov, there are five core areas of EHR implementation that will help you get an approximate cost. Keep in mind that these costs are related to ambulatory primary cost settings.

  1. EHR Software: Your potential costs associated with an EHR software include an EHR app, upgrades to your EHR app, and interface modules. Don't forget that software costs can range greatly depending on whether you have an on-site EHR or a SaaS EHR.
  2. Hardware: Hardware costs include desktop and laptop computers, scanners, printers, tablets, database servers, and more.
  3. Help with Implementation: You may also incur costs helping with the implementation of your new EHR. These vary from IT contractors, electricians, consultant support, attorneys, hardware installation, workflow redesign and more. If you're in the mental health and addiction recovery field, we can help. If not, your Regional Extension Center, aka REC, is a great place to start. Reach out to them to see if you're eligible to get free support.
  4. Training: When you're setting up a new EHR, you and your staff should absolutely get trained on how to use it. Fortunately, any good EHR vendor will provide this training as part of their service. We definitely do. When you're considering various EHR vendors, ask around and check their reviews to make sure they provide in-depth and thorough training.
  5. Ongoing Maintenance Fees: There can be a lot of fees down the line including software and hardware licensing agreements, continued education of staff, IT support fees, training of new staff, and more.

The Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption estimates your costs would be as follows.

In-office:

  • Upfront: $33,000
  • Yearly: $4,000
  • 5-year TCO (Total Cost Ownership): $48,000

SaaS:

  • Upfront: $26,000
  • Yearly: $8,000
  • 5-year TCO: $58,000

EMR vs EHR Conclusion

In conclusion. the difference between an EMR vs EHR is simply this: EMRs are set up to improve communication in a single medical practice while EHRs work to improve the overall health of the patient.

EMRs and EHRs should work together to make life easier for the patient, such as appointment scheduling between doctors, specialists, etc., and for medical professionals, so they can coordinate with other doctors and offices on things like prescribed medication, treatment, etc.

If you're looking for a behavioral health or substance abuse treatment software EHR or EMR, we can help with a free demo. Just fill out the form below or give us a call and we'll schedule a free demo. Whether you go with us or another vendor, be sure to get a cost estimate beforehand on implementation.