EMR or EHR?

Anyone who spends much time talking with me knows that one of my concerns, and not just as an editor, is the misuse of language by people in health care. Yes, I have a list of examples, and I might share that in a future essay. Today, we'll consider just one problem.

You'll be hearing and using the terms EMR (electronic medical record) and EHR (electronic health record) more and more. But will you use them correctly? Are they interchangeable? I myself have confused the two. In fact, I used EMR wrongly in an interview the other day and the subject didn't bat an eye, even though his reply assumed a meaning for EMR that is not the real meaning. So it's easy to do.

But too much is riding on the development and deployment of these products to confuse them. When I went looking for a good explanation of the difference, I found it here. So click through and read the short article and never misuse those terms again.

John Marcille is the editor of Managed Care.