Medical record systems organize patient information, including basic details, medical history, and insurance information. Electronic systems allow for quick retrieval and statistical analysis, while remote storage options provide backup in case of disaster.
Medical record systems are paper or electronic systems used to organize and catalog information relating to treatments, general health conditions, and other data relevant to patients. Today, many doctors’ offices, hospitals, and other types of short- and long-term treatment facilities use software programs to create a customized medical record system. Here are some examples of what kind of data is kept in systems and how it is used.
At the heart of all types of medical record systems is the patient information contained in the cataloged data. It includes basic information such as the patient’s name, gender and age. Contact information for next of kin or other persons authorized to receive patient information is also listed in the records. Notes on any allergies are also documented. If the patient has some type of insurance or some type of health care discount plan, the relevant details are also kept in the patient file.
Along with basic patient data, medical record systems are also capable of storing years of information about doctor visits, hospital admissions, surgical procedures, and short- or long-term prescribed medications. Most systems include fields where doctors, nurses, and other authorized medical personnel can enter notes about each event where medical care was extended to the patient.
Medical record systems also sometimes serve as a means of documenting communications with the patient or insurer. The system can capture the dates that claims were prepared and sent to the provider, responses to claims, and any payments received from the insurance company or directly from the patient. This allows you to generate invoices to the patient that keep them informed of the current status of the account.
With the advent of electronic health record systems, many procedures that used to take hours can now be done in much less time. For example, electronic health records can be searched using keywords, allowing you to quickly review patient histories going back a number of years without wading through large quantities of printed records. In addition to quickly retrieving information for the purpose of providing medical services to the patient, computerized medical records also facilitate the compilation of statistics on the number of patients treated for a given disease or the types of drugs most often released by a given doctor. Data like this can be very helpful when evaluating the scope of a practice and the overall quality of care offered by a physician.
As a health information management tool, the value of electronic health records cannot be underestimated. Data that should be stored in a remote storage facility can easily be entered into medical record systems and archived to a hard drive and CD for easy retrieval. This helps keep printed documents to a minimum and frees up space for other purposes.
In addition to residing on local hard drives or servers, medical record systems can also be hosted on a remote server and other remote data storage solutions. This benefit is especially useful in situations where you want to keep backup copies of your data available. If the practice or hospital were to suffer damage due to a natural disaster, all patient data is still kept and can be accessed using the appropriate authorization codes.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
