Off the Charts: Technology shifts health record keeping from paper to digital

Traditionally, hospitals and physician practices process their billing of services electronically, but maintain paper charts for their patients. Paper charts are gradually becoming a thing of the past. Electronic billing and medication prescribing were the initial steps to bringing this part of healthcare into the 21st century.

Electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health record (EHR) is one part of the federal mandate to reduce paperwork and adopt and implement secure, confidential, electronic methods to exchange health information between patient, doctors and health care facilities.