The Pros And Cons Of Electronic Medical Records

Introduction
The United States Department of Health & Human Services (2017) defines Electronic Medical Records (EMR) as, “An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one health care organization.” The study shows that a cost-benefit analysis of having Electronic Medical Records in primary care was very beneficial for companies that are looking to make a change and keep up with today’s modern technology. The analysis covered all methods or areas of concerns when deciding to upgrade to electronic medical records. Those methods include study design, costs, benefits, and statistical analysis. The analysis appeared to discuss larger

The article seem to touch mostly on the pros of electronic medical records. But making a good sound decision about any task, companies should weight both the pros and the cons. The Next Galaxy (2017) list four disadvantages of electronic medical records, (1) Much skill required, (2) Minimal error could mean big loss, (3) Privacy is key, and (4) Better have a backup plan.
• Much Skill Required: One of the biggest problems when it comes to electronic medical records is that it can require a significant amount of maintenance. With that being said, skilled technicians may be required at all times. When the smallest things happen to the system it could shut down the entire office.
• Minimal Error Could Mean Big Loss: When things go wrong with the system, large amounts of data or information can be lost. This can become a problem if not handled in a timely manner. Clients information is considered sensitive and if lost can be hard to retrieve.
• Privacy is Key: Medical records aren’t just record of how many times a client been to the doctor. Medical records contains client’s social security numbers, information about their insurance, and even their addresses. If a company’s sever is hacked all this information could be compromised greatly. This fact make some companies uncomfortable with the idea of using electronic medical

Having an external storage services would be ideal. This practice will cost companies additional fees.

Probably the biggest concern of having electronic medical records is whenever things are computerized, you have to take extra measures when it comes to protecting important data from unauthorized access. Companies will need to adopt extreme diligence in order to protect sensitive data from malicious hackers and cyber criminals. According to Mearian (2016), “Cyberattacks will cost hospitals more than $305 billion over the next five years and one in 13 patients will have their data compromised by a