An electronic healthcare record, EHR, is a computerized repository for a patient 's health information providing information to members of the health care team regarding a clinical encounter. Many systems can also provide decision support, quality assurance information and outcome data. EHR’s are used in modern medical practices. As of 2014, 83% of office-based physicians and 97% of hospitals have adopted EHRs; there is a large gap when it comes to the dental industry.
The evolution of EHR’s in the dental practices started when 2004’s president, George Bush, called for the majority of americans to have an EHR within ten years. After this, President Obama, in 2009, signed an act, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRP) which saved existing jobs and created new ones as soon as possible. Other objectives were to provide temporary relief programs for those most affected by the recession and invest in infrastructure, education, health, and renewable energy. Part of that law included the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) to further promote the adoption and
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One of the biggest barriers on EHRs there is a very high cost ranging from 15,000 to 70,000 per provider. Not only must you buy equipment to record and store patient charts (much more expensive than paper and file cabinets), but efforts must be taken to convert all charts to electronic form. Patients may be in the transitional state, where old records haven’t yet been converted and doctors don’t always know this. Further, training on electronic medical records software adds additional expense in paying people to take training, and in paying trainers to teach