What exactly is an Electronic Health Record?

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As defined by healthit.gov:

“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. an EHR system has the ability to obtain and document more than the usual standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office”.

In other words, an electronic health record is like a digital medical passport containing all the medical information necessary for providers to properly assess, treat, and cure patients within an institution.

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The key features and benefits of an electronic health record include, but are not limited to:

·        Fully digital medical records.

·        Easily sharable to all providers and authorized users.

·        Safe, secure, and private.

·        Accurate real time information.

·        Reduced possibility of medical errors.

·        Easy to use and access.

·        Improved overall productivity and efficiency.

The Importance of EHR in a Correctional Institution

   It’s no surprise that correctional facilities present many challenges to healthcare providers. Aside from safety and security concerns, providers care for a patient population more prone to chronic disease, substance abuse, and mental illness. Amidst these difficult medical conditions, many facilities still rely on paper charting processes, making vital inmate health information harder to track down and time-consuming to record. Without a complete and timely picture of an inmate’s health, making the best treatment decisions is made more difficult in already demanding environment.

An electronic health record software can help to streamline your facility’s healthcare processes and ultimately improve the effectiveness of your healthcare team and outcomes for inmates.  With an EHR, an inmate’s entire medical record -history, diagnosis, lab results, allergies, immunizations, and more - is easily accessible and shareable through various electronic devices to all authorized providers and caregivers. This easy access makes record-keeping less cumbersome and more accurate and accountable. Care is then more easily coordinated between providers, reducing the likelihood of unnecessary medical tests or procedures, which ultimately saves crucial budget dollars.

Thanks to an EHR, your facility’s staff is no longer bogged down in paper processes, allowing them to concentrate most of their time on caring instead of clerical work. This increased attention to care means safer, healthier patients and less stressed providers.  And even after a patient has left your facility, the EHR makes continuity of their care in the community more possible, thanks to a more complete record of care.

An Industry Leading EHR Software

When it comes to choosing an EHR for your facility, you can trust the experts at Sapphire Health, where the software was designed and built specifically for corrections health professionals. Sapphire is a subsidiary company of Diamond Pharmacy Services, the nation’s largest correctional pharmacy provider. Guided by almost four decades of Diamond’s industry expertise, Sapphire has developed a fully integrated, real-time, electronic health record that can include both outpatient and inpatient records. In addition, our EHR is

·        Fully Cloud-based

·        Fully HIPAA-compliant,

·        Developed wholly in-house (No third parties)

·        Backed with in-house 24/7 emergency IT support (No third parties)

Sapphire EHR has been tested in industry settings and refined with the direct input of corrections healthcare staff from many facilities across many states. Our staff works diligently to meet customers’ varying needs through software customization and training. While many EHRs exist on the market, Sapphire is truly a “for corrections, by corrections” software solution. Contact us today to schedule a demonstration.

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