EMR/EHR definitions via the Software Advice blog

  A reader pointed out this post on the Software Advice blog, which among other things brought into one place the NAHIT definitions for EHR, EMR, and PHR. Here's the first two:

Recently, National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) established definitions for electronic medical records (EMR), electronic health records (EHR) and personal health records (PHR).

The NAHIT has produced the following definitions for EMR and EHR:

EMR: The electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created, gathered, managed, and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff from a single organization who are involved in the individual’s health and care.

EHR: The aggregate electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created and gathered cumulatively across more than one health care organization and is managed and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff involved in the individual’s health and care.

...and here's the definition for a PHR, also from NAHIT:

NAHIT has provided the following definition of a PHR:

ePHR: An electronic, cumulative record of health-related information on an individual, drawn from multiple sources, that is created, gathered, and managed by the individual. The integrity of the data in the ePHR and control of access to that data is the responsibility of the individual.

To be most effective, a PHR should include cumulative health information ranging from past and current illnesses, demographics, allergies, prescriptions and more. Given the nature of the PHR, it’s the individual’s responsibility to decide what information is stored, and who has access to it.

The post has a good deal more analysis and some great comments and pointers to other useful posts from Steve Beller, PhD. Well worth your time to explore if you have an interest in any one or more of these three concepts.