Jan 2006 Table of Contents

LETTERS

Fam Pract Manag. 2006 Jan;13(1):20.

EHRs and disaster management

Much has been written in FPM about the benefits and costs of electronic health records (EHRs). In view of the natural disasters that have affected many of our colleagues recently, I would like to point out a benefit of EHRs that hasn’t been discussed much: disaster management. If I had to evacuate in the face of a hurricane, I could put in my pocket eight years of medical records for all 5,000 of my practice’s patients. If there were a fire at my office tonight, I would not lose a single record because the backup tape would be safe with me at home. This kind of security is priceless.

Copyright © 2006 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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