Electronic Health Records For Dummies

Getting rid of file rooms and missing records

Be honest — you’re envisioning a sweet new break room in the place of that file room right now, aren’t you? We thought so. That’s what you can have after you move files to an electronic platform and lose the paper. New exam room, new supply closet, you name it . . . the space will be free to do with as you please. Employees will no longer have to spend precious minutes searching for and returning files or spend time performing file management, labeling, paperwork, and so on. The administrative time, from initial information intake to permanent filing, decreases by more than half when you use EHR.

Getting a new EHR means getting rid of stacks of folders and charts, which not only frees up more usable space for your office but also reduces the probability of misplacing records. Your staff will no longer have to spend time riffling around the office for Mr. Ferguson’s file because everything they need to know about good old Mr. F. can be easily accessed through his EHR patient record. His file is never lost — it just lives securely online, saved on a backup server. Long story short, you’re opening up space and saving a great deal of time by going paperless.