Electronic Medical Record … Cold Term for Patient Relationships

December 14th, 2006 by Jon Mertz

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In the late 1990s, the technology industry discovered the importance of customer relationships. Before this time, the sales teams managed contacts, but kept no records on the overall relationship with a customer. The Support team managed their relationships with some software or maybe just a good spreadsheet that someone built. Several good entrepreneurs identified the disconnected nature of this relationship and created an industry around Customer Relationship Management software.

The healthcare industry is going through a similar evolution. One difference is that the words “relationship” or “patient” do not appear in any of the industry application terms. It is Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or Electronic Health Record (EHR).

While the movement towards Electronic Medical Record software is a good thing that will improve patient relationships, perhaps a more accurate naming convention could have been used. Maybe the term coined should have been:

Patient Relationship Management
Patient Care Record
Patient Care Management

Implementing patient relationship management software is changing the healthcare provider market. There are key benefits to connecting systems and streamlining the flow of patient data. What should not be lost in these efforts is the patient and the relationships built and developed over time.

In a recent American Academy of Family Physicians article, the author outlined tips for patient-centric interactions when using electronic health record software. Not only is it vital to keep the focus on the patient in the exam room, it is essential to keep the patient as the focal point when implementing the application. Determining the connections required outside your facility will provide the roadmap for the integrations required with other healthcare providers (e.g., labs, hospitals, imaging centers, clinics).

The focus on the patient interactions in the exam room and the healthcare interactions required afterwards (e.g., x-ray, lab tests, etc.) will ensure a relationship-centered, streamlined approach.