Electronic Health Records as a GPS for Healthcare

Today’s infographic comes to us from Publicis Health, and it demonstrates how electronic health records are an important piece in the puzzle to improve experiences for patients and providers alike.

Adding to these challenges, the healthcare industry is grappling with significant amounts of technological change, while also trying to keep costs in check. Between 2015 and 2017, hospitals lost $6.8 billion in operating income – that’s an average decline of nearly 40% in just two years.

A New Direction for Patient Care

Enter electronic health records (EHRs) – platforms used to conveniently store a patient’s health information and offer all sorts of services, from scheduling appointments and consultations to identifying patients at risk and guiding care decisions.

An improvement on physical paper charts, EHRs allow a patient’s medical history to be shared securely and instantly across different settings.

First conceived in 2009 under the Obama administration’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, EHRs have rapidly evolved as they’ve been implemented in the industry, with 87% office-based doctors nationwide relying on the system.

Today, EHRs are a massive industry: the global market was worth $23.6 billion in 2016, and it’s expected to reach close to $33.3 billion by 2023. It’s clear their real capabilities are still just at the tip of the iceberg.

As technology progresses to incorporate artificial intelligence and big data into healthcare, the point of care for patients will likely extend beyond the four walls of a doctor’s office and out into the world. In other words, EHR systems act like a GPS, helping doctors and care teams navigate patient care more efficiently. This improves patient-doctor interactions, resulting in better outcomes.

Of course, there are always challenges to overcome. Here are a few key considerations for EHRs:

Thinking Beyond EHR Systems

Capturing real world data and patient-reported outcomes will be important for wider applications, towards:

• A deeper understanding of patient journeys
• Informing clinical trial design and execution
• Better characterizing patient demographics
• Evaluating treatment options for sub-populations

In the future, healthcare and pharma companies could potentially use EHRs as one part of an entire suite of solutions to improve their workflow – and extend the point of care everywhere.

This is part six of a seven part series. Stay tuned for the final piece by subscribing to Visual Capitalist for free, as we wrap up the major transformative forces shaping the future of healthcare.