1. A compilation of core electronic health data submitted by various healthcare providers and organizations, accessible by numerous authorized parties from a number of points of care, possibly even from different jurisdictions. 2. An official health record for an individual that is shared among multiple facilities and agencies. 3. Electronic health records typically include: Contact information, Information about visits to health care professionals, Allergies, Insurance information, Family history, Immunization status, Information about any conditions or diseases, A list of medications, Records of hospitalization, Information about any surgeries or procedures performed. Digitized health information systems are expected to improve efficiency and quality of care and, ultimately, reduce costs. The benefits of electronic health records include: The ability to automatically share and update information among different offices and organizations, More efficient storage and retrieval, The ability to share multimedia information, such as medical imaging results, among locations, The ability to link records to sources of relevant and current research, Easier standardization of services and patient care, Provision of decision support systems (DSS) for healthcare professionals, Less redundancy of effort, Lower cost to the medical system once implementation is complete, The governments of many countries are working to ensure that all citizens have standardized electronic health records and that all records include the same types of information. The major barrier for the adoption of electronic health records is cost. SYNONYM. Digital medical record. RELATED TERM. Electronic medical record
