Benefits of Patients Access to their EHR Data

Patient access to their electronic health records (EHR) is now becoming an integral part of healthcare organizations across the world. It has the potential to decrease healthcare provision costs, improve access to healthcare data, self-care, quality of care, and patient-centered outcomes.

Why is it important to allow patients to access their medical data?

Now, those days are gone when you had to wait for a call to get your test results, or you had to visit the health care setting several times to get basics details. Now you could simply log in to your patient portal and check your data.

Engaging patients in their case is an important goal for improving the Health care system. According to the National Healthcare Quality Report of AHRQ in 2008, some Healthcare Outcomes Policy Priorities are:

Undoubtedly, engaging patients in their healthcare is meaningful for physicians. At the minimum patient should have:

How patients can access their health records?

Let's see how patients can be engaged in their cases. Well, there are several ways by which patients can view their data but the patient portal is mostly used. Patient portals have become increasingly popular in the health care industry, with patients actively using them. These portals are a hub for all things patients need and help them to stay engaged with their physicians. Patient portals achieve this by providing patients access to their data. Patients can have a look at their lab results, prescriptions, health history, and discharge summary.

Benefits of allowing the Patient to access their EHR data

Summary

There are a lot of benefits of direct patient access to their medical records. A trend towards full participation of patients in their health outcomes is emerging. We live in a digital era, so allowing patients to their data through EHR will surely help you. Adopting a robust EHR software platform isn't just about maintaining compliance with meaningful use, or even about ensuring the best delivery of care to your patients. It's also about optimizing a practice's ability to make smart business decisions based on patient data. The impact of this kind of business intelligence is critical to growing the practice and maximizing the bottom line.