What is an EHR Anyway?
The acronym EHR stands for Electronic Health Record. Originally the term EHR was supposed to mean a very specific thing. It was to be a type of digital (i.e., computerized) practice management system for health care professionals that could “talk to” (i.e., share data with) EHRs of other health care providers and organizations, such as laboratories, specialists, school and workplace clinics, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities – essentially anyone that might be involved in a patient’s care. Similar products that did NOT automatically have the “talk to everyone” feature were to be referred to by other names, such as EMR (Electronic Medical Record) or simply, practice management system.