There are at least two examples of health IT approaches that certainly count as electronic, but do not qualify as an EHR as per meaningful use. The first is simply a collection of word processing documents.

The problem with trying to normalize healthcare data is that there are too many exceptions. Most patients will always have something about them that is outside the bounds of what an EHR might normally expect. The solution is simple: free text, which usually lives in a part of the record called patient notes.

appear arrogant to the clinical staff, who understand perfectly how effective the paper forms can be.

that inpatient care is primarily centered around small and continuous increments of time, whereas outpatient care is centered around transactional visits or encounters with the patient.

Instead of duplicating data with the same meaning in an EHR, only one copy should be kept. Linking allows that single copy to do the work of two copies.

There are several services that offer to provide insights into the performance of EHR systems. The most famous of these is KLAS, which bills itself as “Accurate, Honest, and Impartial.”

The basic problem that clinical ontologies seek

Data linking is all about the way data in one part of a patient’s record relates to data in another part of the record.

subset of the patient population, trauma centers that handle the most difficult and serious injuries in a region, and long-term care that services patients who require continuous assistance for a few weeks to several months or years.