If you’re here, chances are I don’t have to define electronic health records. You know how we feel about usability and how they should be built, what they can do to better the patient experience and healthcare costs, the importance of Meaningful Use attestation and you probably have a good idea as to which one we like best.
But maybe you’re not up-to-date on alternative medicine, or perhaps don’t know much about fracking (extracting natural gas from shale rock) aside from political controversy. But even if you do, did you know how EHRs are associated with either topic?
Below we explore alternate uses of electronic health records, which gives us another reason to love them even more than we already do.
EHR Data in Research
Before getting into fracking, it’s clear that EHRs place practices and hospitals in a unique position to utilize this technology for research, and not just quality patient reporting.
The amount of rich clinical data in EHRs is invaluable, and it can help form the basis of tools like disease registries, which can serve as a prototype for learning about conditions, particularly if they’re spreading.
Recording adverse or unlikely events is also advisable, particularly with medication, which can help for post-marketing evaluation of drugs and devices. And considering the average time for a drug to go from research to pharmacies is 12 years, it’s time to get on the ball.
Alternative Medicine and EHRs
If patients keep doctors informed about varying degrees of alternative medicine, we may have more conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of certain kinds of unorthodox treatment, which is especially important when deciding which of these don’t work.
This view has been advanced before, and it’s gained enough traction for some healthcare professionals to think EHRs should include a standard component to accommodate alternative therapy data.
Not to mention, a Consumer Reports survey demonstrates three of four adults use some form of alternative therapy, namely in the chiropractic fields. There’s a wealth of information in alternative treatments waiting to be digested.
Health Effects of Fracking
Pennsylvania non-profit hospital system Geisinger Health System wants to use its patient record database to research whether fracking actually has a disparaging affect on patients’ health.
This would provide enlightening breakthroughs in the political debate surrounding the natural gas boom. The long-term goals of Geisinger’s study are to learn whether gas operations result in asthma and other lung problems, and later an investigation into whether there has been an increase in the diagnoses of diabetes and cancer.
If a study like Geisinger’s is funded and carried out, think about the potential of EHRs for the Erin Brockovich’s of the world. It’s endless.
Do you know what you need when setting up a new medical practice?