EMR Software’s Impact on The Environment
The world has become aware of what “green” means and more companies are committed to being “green”. This includes medical practices, hospitals, and other healthcare environments where costs are skyrocketing. Not only can EMR Software, i.e. Electronic Medical Records, protect healthcare establishments money, but they can also reduce the use of physical goods like paper as well as energy. Given below are few ways by which a healthcare organization can go ‘green’ by using EMR software.
Reduced Use of Paper
Physical medical records are on sheets of paper put into paper folders. With each sheet the folder grows and more paper is added with each appointment or medical emergency. This dissipates natural resources and has other ecological impacts. However, when EMR software is used there is no need for paper medical records to be used. This actually saves trees from being cut down and used to make more paper. The software preserves the records and doctors can have instant access to it unlike paper record which need fax, copy, printing, etc. Prescriptions can even be provided electronically to pharmacies so there’ no requirement for a hard copy of the prescription and the risk of a medical error because of the prescription being illegible goes down considerably.
Space Needs Decrease
The use of EMR reduces the use of paper thus reducing the storage space of such records. Many healthcare organizations have entire rooms dedicated to storage of medical records. Hard copy is not necessary when you use EMR software. As a result, the space needed decreases and this is considered “green” because the natural resources necessary to support that space also decrease.
Energy Requirements Decrease
EMR also reduces the energy consumption. There’ no requirement for copying and faxing of medical records not to mention the extra space for storage is not needed and this cuts back considerably on power bills.
These are few factors which can help in healthcare establishments grow “green”.
Electronic Health Records system funding is now available for most doctors and hospitals. EHR Software systems are now being required for Medicare and Medicaid providers
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