The Benefits of Electronic Medical Record Storage

Order Medical Records’ electronic medical record storage services provide superior security and access over traditional paper records storage.

The use of electronic medical records (EMR) has grown rapidly in recent years and soon, they will be the standard for all healthcare providers. President Obama has expressed his desire for every American to have access to their own electronic medical record by 2014. Well, 2014 is over and not all medical providers have made the switch from paper to electronic records. This leaves patients without electronic medical records at a disadvantage, but fortunately, OMR can help patients and doctors reap at least some of the benefits of EMR by converting paper records to electronic ones prior to their storage. The following are some important benefits that electronic medical record storage can provide.

Improved Security

Paper records are oftentimes stored behind a reception desk in a small medical office or in an obscure back room in the corner of a large facility. In either case, theft or access by unauthorized parties is not only possible, but likely. Electronic medical records on the other hand, can be stored in “the cloud” on secure servers that the public cannot access. The only people who can access your records is your healthcare provider and anybody that you give the credentials to. This means that EMR systems are able to offer better privacy and security for all parties involved.

Improved Access to Records

Electronic medical records are much easier to store, locate, retrieve, and distribute than old paper based records which results in a better experience for anyone who needs to access them including patients, physicians, attorneys, insurance agents, researchers, and auditors. Patients can expect to enjoy timelier, better-informed care from new physicians or specialists who no longer have to wait for records to be mailed. With EMR systems patients can also access their records from the comforts of their homes instead of having virtually no way to access them. Attorneys and insurance agents can also access the data they need to resolve their cases much faster. Finally, researchers and auditors will be better able to search for relevant records and retrieve them in an easily portable and transferable format.

Protection Against Natural Disasters

Paper records are vulnerable to the physical damages that come with aging, as well as to potential natural disasters or accidents such as flooding, fire, or even tornadoes. Electronic medical records, however, can be backed up to multiple different servers in different physical locations. This helps spread out the risk associated with damage from natural disasters or equipment failure and ensures that your personal medical records will never be destroyed and lost forever.

Lower Overhead

Storing paper records takes up lots of space and simply put, space costs money. Storage space is at a premium in many hospitals and healthcare facilities, making it very costly to store old medical records, even if they are hidden away in odd corners of the building. In addition, accessing paper medical records can be time consuming which results in high staff costs and wasting of staff members’ time. By storing records in electronic format, these costs can be reduced dramatically. If your hospital or medical practice already uses electronic medical records, OMR can help reduce overhead associated with utilizing your own server space for these records by providing storage space on our own dedicated servers.

Switch to Electronic Medical Records Today

Whether you are a doctor’s office who still relies on paper based records or a patient who only has paper based records, the time to switch to Electronic Medical Records is now. OMR offers various different services related to EMR storage and can transfer your old paper records into electronic format in a short period of time. Call or contact us today to learn how we provide the electronic medical record solutions that you are looking for.