Need for Electronic Health Record : A Review

Electronic Health Records are digitalized, real-time, patient-centric records which is becoming the central source of information in the healthcare industry. The need for EHRs to replace paper-based entry and storage of patient data is high. Most developed countries have realized the need to switch to EHRs. India being one of the developing countries has not fully considered the idea of EHRs and is still contemplating on it. 5.2 million medical errors occur in India annually. A major reason for this could be due to lack of interoperability between facilities and absence of patient health record history. Often, personal health data is stored in multiple clinical institutions and in non-sharable formats. To provide effective, meaningful and continuity of care, patient health data must be centrally available and comprehensive. This can be achieved by adopting standardized electronic health record formats as defined in HL7 framework.