The Electronic Medical Record: Improving structures and dynamics in healthcare delivery.

Bender and Mecklenburge (2017) identified three innovations brought about by electronic medical records (EMR):

(1) detailed prompts and reminders to avoid omissions in care,

(2) transparency to engage patients and families in spotting lapses in care, and

(3) adding medical intelligence to computer programs.

Prior to EMR, most physicians only documented their diagnosis and treatment ("What is the History of Electronic Medical Records?", 2016). The limitations in documenting the health journey of the patient made for poor outcomes. Great health outcomes are the end-goal of medicine.

Outcomes improvement benefits healthcare and, according to Tinker (2018) citing the Quadruple Aim of Healthcare to:

1. Improve the patient experience of care.
2. Improve the health of populations.
3. Reduce the per capita cost of healthcare.
4. Reduce clinician and staff burnout.

Outcomes such as the abovementioned rely on reliable data and patient information. Without a system of collecting data and meaningfully using these data to arrive at the best outcomes, patient experience will not improve.

When patients, as part of the population, are not cured or treated, will cause poor resource management and that negatively affects cost of healthcare which will bear down on the organizations and professionals whose members will be overwhelmed or disillusioned.