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=**The benefits and barriers to digitizing personal medical records.**=

The **Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act** (**PPACA**), signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, is designed to make healthcare both affordable and available to all citizens. One of the purported methods of realizing savings in today's climate of escalating healthcare costs is the digitizing of medical records. As with many initiatives, there are certainly a host of benefits that can be realized by digitizing medical records, but there are a host of barriers as well. In striking a balance between the benefits and challenges, consideration must be given to both elements and whether or not current legislative mandates effectively prohibit this process. For healthcare providers, and for the industry as a whole, the move to technology is inevitable. With that in mind, Physicians and Executives of Healthcare Providers need to consider tactical and strategic initiatives that will usher them into the digital age.

EMR vs. EHR
From a practical standpoint, the terms Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) are typically used interchangeably. The EMR is a provider specific record of medical care, while the EHR is an amalgamation of EMRs. Because the EHR can't really exist without EMRs, within this Wiki the terms will be used interchangeably. For a comprehensive discussion about the differences between the two terms, view this article from the Analytics subsidiary of The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.


 * = ==Issues to consider:==

There are several items to consider when contemplating a move to digitizing healthcare records. Among the many items to consider are :
 * Impacts of inefficiency to patients
 * Costs / Benefits
 * Solution Providers ||= ==A Roundtable Discussion==

Takeda Pharmaceuticals conducted a roundtable discussion to discuss the benefits of Health Information Technology, most notably EHR and e-prescribing of medication. HIT - Results from a roundtable discussion 2009 Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy JMCP.pdf ||