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Electronic Health Records Benefit the Patient, the Physician, and the Medical Community

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Contact:
Amanda Denning
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237, Ext. 5223
adenning@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — In a small- or medium-sized medical practice, an electronic health record (EHR) system is the “central nervous system” for clinical patient management. Via computer, Internet and personal data assistant (PDA), EHR systems help physicians and staff members view, chart and interact with patients’ health information in a timely and accurate manner.

EHRs are essential to increasing the quality of health care and improving patient safety. The benefits of EHRs range from information integration to increased efficiency of clinical processes. These benefits impact patients, physicians and the medical community as a whole:

Patients – EHRs give health care providers the tools they need to ensure patients receive the most timely, appropriate and efficient medical care possible, therefore reducing medical errors and duplication of services. These tools include drug information, patient history, clinical guidelines and screening recommendations. EHRs increase screening and preventive care and reduce complications, including drug errors.
Physicians – Physician offices that incorporate EHR systems into their daily practice are able to integrate health information, clinical knowledge and patient resources at the office-based point of care. All of this information is housed in an EHR. Evidence-based guidelines can be rapidly incorporated, along with recommendations and guidelines as they are issued.
Medical Community – Transactions between the office-based environment and other sources of health information, such as pharmacies and laboratories, are efficient and secure with EHRs.

As the health-care industry and the general population move toward a largely electronic era of communication, the use of modern health technology, such as electronic health records, is essential to the future of medicine.

The American Academy of Family Physicians is spearheading a movement to make EHRs the standard method of medical record systems communication by working with the best and most innovative health-care technology companies to create a breakthrough in the adoption of EHRs in family physicians’ offices. The AAFP is the only medical organization to aggressively address the need for and drive the development and adoption of EHRs.

The health and well-being of a patient is a physician’s first concern. EHRs enable the physician and the medical community as a whole to improve the quality and efficiency of care for each patient.

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

For more information about health care, health conditions, and wellness, please visit familydoctor.org.