What Are the Hybrid Conversions for EHR?

As of June of 2011, many medical organizations are attempting to transfer their historical and newly completed health records to an electronic health records system. Any medical records system that stores records as a mixture of electronic and paper documents can be classed as a hybrid records system. These types of systems are often used as transitional systems as the paper documents are transferred to an electronic system.

Hybrid

• Hybrid EHR systems contain a number of different components that can be used as short term or as long term solutions to a conversion strategy for electronics records. In many cases, the transition to electronic records is either required by law or must fit into a legal framework for storing health records. The electronic portion of a system is made up of records stored on an electronic database. Other components that are required for an electronic system to be classed as a hybrid are a paper component of records stored as hard copies and any other form of record, such as historical data held on microfilm.

Data

• Transferring documents to an electronic system can be expensive in terms of labor and storage. To reduce costs, information is often condensed to reduce large pieces of information. In the case of complex codes, such as coded medication information for patients, large amounts of data must be recorded. To avoid the recording of large amounts of information, electronic information can be abbreviated with a hard copy explanation of abbreviations made available.

Loss of Data

• A major problem with the transition from a paper based record system through hybrid to an electronic system is the fear of lost data. Some hybrid systems require only a small amount of records to be transferred to electronic records with paper documents used for historic records. To avoid lost data, many records can be stored in a hybrid system using scanning of documents to copy and store records. Other transitional techniques include the storage of documents and data in a storage site not owned by the medical organization.

Techniques

• Storage techniques often used in hybrid electronic health record systems include searchable documents and read-only references, according to Hayes Management Consulting. Searchable documents are those stored as PDF files, which can be structured for easy searching and recovery through an electronic system. Read-only references are often used in hybrid situations, where historical data is stored but cannot be altered or changed by employees.