Toward Electronic Patient Records

After a decade of debate, electronic records for patients through their doctors is gaining acceptance. EMR's have arrived. I think that it is generally now a "given" about electronic records that it is no longer "if" but now is "when" will my doctor, my hospital or "myself" be a participant in the electronic and digital revolution that is encompassing all of healthcare.

I spent two days touring TEPR2007, the annual trade show for EMR vendors and came to the conclusion that there are a myriad of choices from software vendors, middleware and hardware. The paradigm shift is inevitable and in full swing. EMR's are being standardized and as a result commoditized. Bells and whistles unique to particular vendors but at the end of the day, they all do the same thing.

Certification of vendors as long as not costly prohibitive to prevent creative development by smaller vendors is a good thing. Standardization is a must.

I predict XML will be the winner as the standardization tool with integration and flexibility to maintain CCR, HL-7, X12N, NCPDP and I also think PDF's will move to forefront of medical information sharing capabilities.

Key concepts in the PHR world will be access audit trails and transparency of data, 2 factor authentication and exciting work will be developed as a result of RHIO's and Markle grants.