Today’s world is becoming increasingly paperless and that extends to the world of medicine. Think about your last trip to your local doctor’s office. Odds are you saw a lot of paper and for good reason. About 92 million metric tons of paper are produced annually in the United States.

Despite that, advances in medicine such and technology such as telemedicine implementation and electronic medical records (EMR) have allowed many doctor’s offices to keep better records and offer more options for serving patients.

Much like there are benefits of telemedicine for patients, for those in the health care industry, there are many benefits of EMR and these include:

Providing accurate information about patients that’s up-to-date to the point of care. That means patients won’t have to continuously fill out paperwork when they visit a doctor’s office. Instead, information can be entered and then stored so when a patient visits, the doctor has the most up-to-date information to provide care.

Safer prescribing. Rather than doctors having to guess when it comes to prescribing medicine, one of the many benefits of EMR is that accurate records are kept which allows medical professionals to see a patient’s prescription history.

More accurate billing practices. Another of the benefits of EMR is that it allows for more accurate billing since all important information is stored electronically. This helps avoid mix-ups or extra charges being made as well as having to keep track of a lot of billing paperwork.

Easier and more secure communication. EMR allows hospitals and other health care facilities to easily share patient information and do so in a secure way. If a patient visits a specialist for example, a primary doctor or a hospital can easily share information that saves the patient and the specialist time from having to rehash medical history.

Reduced costs. Another of the benefits of EMR is the decreased amount of paperwork and amount of paper used overall. Medical facilities can also benefit from reduced testing duplication, better safety and better health for their patients.

Better privacy. One of the most confidential pieces of information about a person is their medical history. With EMR, patients can feel more at ease because their medical data and personal information is more secure than traditional paper files.

Better coordination. Perhaps one of the best benefits of EMR for patients is better coordination of medical care. For patients there are few things more aggravating than being seen by an endless parade of nurses, doctors and other medical professionals and having to repeat yourself over and over regarding your symptoms and medical history. Since records are stored electronically, medical professionals can access the information they need with the touch of a button.

There are many benefits of EMR and overall they make life much easier for patients and medical professionals alike with better productivity, better safety and better medical care. By converting from paper to electronic medical records, health care providers are doing themselves and their patients a huge service.