EMR Software's Impact on The Environment

The world has become aware of what "green" means and more companies are committed to being "green". The rising costs are significant in the field of healthcare, hospitals and medical practice. Not only can EMR Software, i.e. Electronic Medical Records, save healthcare establishments money, but they can also lower the use of physical goods like paper and even 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 slipped 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. With the use of EMR paper records are not necessary. This literally saves trees from being chopped and used to make more paper. All medical records are stored electronically with EMR software and can be transmitted electronically, too, reducing the need for copying, faxing, printing, and the like. Prescriptions can even be furnished electronically to pharmacies so there is no need for a hard copy of the prescription and the chance of a medical error due to the prescription being illegible goes down significantly.

Space Needs Decrease
When paper medical records are replaced with electronic medical records the need for storage space decreases significantly. Several healthcare organizations have entire rooms specifically for storage of medical records. However, EMR software completely eliminates the need for a hard copy of medical records. Therefore, the space needed diminishes and this is considered "green" because the natural resources needed to support that space also decrease.

Energy Requirements Decrease
Additionally, energy requirements go down when electronically medical records are used. It is not necessary for copying and faxing of medical records not to mention the extra storage space is not needed and this cuts back significantly on power bills.

These are just a few of the ways that using EMR software can promote a "green" and environmentally conscious healthcare establishment.

About the Author

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


(JamieHanson). Submitted on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 Time: 5:12 PM

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