5 Reasons Organizations Need to Switch from Paper Records to Electronic Health Records

If you are the one leading or working within a medical enterprise for some time, you would have finalized till now that there are more difficulties than interests in advancing to use paper-based documents and it is time to make the switch to electronic health records. While some practices can guide to get by using old-fashioned paper, the drawbacks can no longer be overlooked. Paper records are just too vulnerable and it is becoming rather difficult to justify using this outdated method of maintaining patient files.

Using an electronic health record or EHR system offers you much better control over information security. To help you make the case to your team for going forward with an EHR, here are five reasons why electronic health records are more secure than paper records.

Grant Access Only to Authorized Users

A paper-based system for your patients’ medical records makes it easier for an unauthorized person to access them without your knowledge. During a busy day, an employee might leave a patient’s file out instead of putting it back in the filing cabinet, for example. Or someone misfiles the information, which is even worse for the patients in question. If you’ve ever been photocopying important documents and then became distracted by a phone call or other diversion of your attention, you know how easy it is to leave a document behind for someone else to view. With an EHR system, you can control precisely who has access to patient information and when. You can ask a healthcare billing services firm to do the task for you if your in-house team is busy in other stuff or if you want a cost-effective option.  What’s more, the electronic version of the patient’s chart is now more convenient to share with other concerned parties. This includes, for example, providing a follow-up report to the physician who sent a patient to see one of your specialists. You can send it electronically instantly instead of arranging for a courier or overnight mail, and the information you transmit will be protected from end-to-end, keeping patient information secure yet more convenient to use.

Encryption Keeps Information Secure

A paper record is easily exposed, letting anyone see it, transcribe details, make a copy or even scan or fax the information to a third party. In contrast, electronic records can be protected with robust encryption methods to keep crucial patient information secure from prying eyes. Your organization already must do everything possible to comply with HIPAA and other privacy regulations, and electronic health records make it easier to maintain confidentiality over paper records in this respect. In a striking example of an organization failing to protect patients’ information in paper records, the U.S. Health, and Human Services reported that its Office for Civil Rights levied a fine of $2.15 million to Jackson Health Systems because it had lost paper records storing protected health information or PHI of 756 of its patients. Paper records do not provide you and your patients the robust security that automatically comes with an EHR.

Paper Records Subject to Tampering

Paper records can be altered in a manner that can be difficult to detect. Someone can remove papers from a report, for example, or produce an altered copy to substitute for the real information.

Electronic health records are protected by encryption and strong login and password systems that make it much more difficult for someone to make unauthorized adjustments to the patient’s chart and other information. Using an EHR helps you maintain pristine records. You can better secure those documents by outsourcing medical billing services to a prime service provider.

Audit Trails

Electronic health record or EHR systems give medical organizations enhanced security because they let you do audit trails. Typically, there is no foolproof method for doing audit trails on paper records. How would you know who was the last person to explore a patient’s chart, or if they altered the records? With an EHR system, you can quickly determine which people have accessed a patient’s records when they did so and whether the access was authorized. If someone accesses information that they shouldn’t be seeing, an audit will shine a light on the situation, unlike paper records, which can be problematic to control. Of course, your properly trained employees will be aware of these safeguards and this can be an incentive to mind their own business.

Data Backup after Disasters

Keeping your patients’ records secure involves much more than controlling access to confidential information. You also need to make sure that the data will be available under worst-case scenarios. For example, in the event of criminal trespass or vandalism or natural disasters such as a fire, flood or earthquake, you will be able to restore your confidential patient data from an offsite backup and get back up and running much more quickly than if your organization was relying on a paper-based system.