What Is EHR (Electronic Health Record)?
An Electronic Health Record is a digital, longitudinal record of a patient's health information maintained by a healthcare organization, designed to be shared across providers and care settings, and to support clinical decisions, billing, and quality reporting.
- When evaluating EHR/PM combinations for billing performance, prioritize: claim-scrubbing depth, payer-specific edit libraries, KPI dashboards, denial-management workflow, and 837/835 EDI capabilities.
- Ask for each item on that list to be demonstrated against your own payer mix rather than described in a deck.
- Deployment model does not answer the question on its own — cloud and on-premise products both range from strong to weak on that checklist, so test the specific product you are being sold.
EHR (Electronic Health Record)
Also known as: Electronic Health Record; EHR System
An Electronic Health Record is a digital, longitudinal record of a patient's health information maintained by a healthcare organization, designed to be shared across providers and care settings, and to support clinical decisions, billing, and quality reporting.
Definition
An EHR contains demographics, medical history, problem lists, medications, immunizations, allergies, lab and imaging results, vital signs, clinical notes, and care plans. EHRs differ from EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) in being designed for interoperability across organizations and care settings, not just within a single practice. Federal rules, though, attach to certification rather than to the label: a product certified under the ONC Health IT Certification Program is tested against the criteria in 45 CFR part 170, and the API standards those criteria adopt are listed at 45 CFR 170.215 — as that section read on 17 September 2026, HL7 FHIR Release 4.0.1 as the base standard, the US Core Implementation Guide STU 6.1.0, and the SMART App Launch Implementation Guide 2.0.0, with the earlier US Core STU 3.1.1 and SMART 1.0.0 adoptions expiring on 1 January 2026 and a further amendment cross-referenced in the section itself. Version numbers there move, so confirm a specific product's certification, and the criteria and version it was certified against, on the ONC Certified Health IT Product List rather than on a vendor page.
Example
Illustrative workflow rather than a description of any one product: a primary care visit is documented in the EHR, which updates the problem list, sends the prescription electronically to the pharmacy, transmits the lab order over the lab interface, and drops a charge that the billing module turns into an 837P claim. Whether a given system does all of that inside one product, or hands the charge to a separate practice-management system, is a question about that system — verify it in a demonstration during selection.
Common Misconceptions
EHRs are not just digital charts — modern EHRs include clinical decision support, e-prescribing, order entry, billing, scheduling, and patient portal capabilities. The 'EHR vs PM' distinction has also blurred: many cloud platforms combine the clinical record and practice management in one system, while other practices run a separate PM alongside the clinical record. Neither arrangement is inherently better for billing; what matters is which system owns the charge and how that charge reaches the clearinghouse.
Practical Application
When evaluating EHR/PM combinations for billing performance, prioritize: claim-scrubbing depth, payer-specific edit libraries, KPI dashboards, denial-management workflow, and 837/835 EDI capabilities. Ask for each item on that list to be demonstrated against your own payer mix rather than described in a deck. Deployment model does not answer the question on its own — cloud and on-premise products both range from strong to weak on that checklist, so test the specific product you are being sold.
Related Terms
EMR vs EHR
In common industry usage, an EMR (Electronic Medical Record) is a digital version of a single practice's paper chart, designed for use within that practice, while an EHR (Electronic Health Record) is a broader, interoperable longitudinal record designed to be shared across organizations and care settings. The split describes how the words are used, not a line drawn by any federal rule.
Read definitionFHIR
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is an HL7 standard for exchanging healthcare information using modern web technologies (RESTful APIs, JSON/XML, OAuth 2.0), used for clinical data exchange, patient access APIs, and increasingly for prior-authorization and quality reporting.
Read definitionPM (Practice Management) System
A Practice Management system is the software that handles the operational and financial workflow of a medical practice — scheduling, registration, eligibility, charge entry, claim submission, payment posting, A/R follow-up, and reporting — typically integrated with or embedded in an EHR.
Read definitionInformation Blocking Rule
The Information Blocking Rule, codified at 45 CFR Part 171 under the 21st Century Cures Act, prohibits health care providers, health IT developers, and health information networks from engaging in practices likely to interfere with access, exchange, or use of electronic health information (EHI), subject to ten regulatory exceptions.
Read definitionWhere This Applies on MedPrecision
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