Nate Bagley from Software Advice asked me to review his article and it jogged my memory… I wrote this a few years ago. Only Nate offers some Google data to back up the idea that essentially an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a patient’s medical record sourced from one provider; an Electronic Health Record (EHR) is sourced from several providers. This is in line with Nate’s quote from Don Fluckinger, “EHR seems to refer to a record that can be shared back and forth and amended among multiple providers.”
If I get my healthcare from one provider, say Sutter Health, where one electronic record is shared between primary care, nurses and specialists, is that an EHR or EMR?
Until the NHIN or HIEs gain traction, Sutter’s health record cannot be shared with Stanford Hospital literally across the street!