Copy/paste errors plague EHRs

Many EHR systems still have issues with importing inaccurate information into patient charts.

Copy and paste processes have been a consistent problem for EHR systems. To save time, many healthcare workers will copy and paste progress notes — more than half, according to a 2010 study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. This leads to incorrect information about patients and can affect quality of care, according to AHIMA.

This is only one of a host of errors that linger in EHRs, including a lack of interoperability and the reusing of templates that lead to false patient information. Many errors are due to a lack of testing and training by health IT experts after system implementations, according to the report.

Many providers rushed to implement an EHR to attest to meaningful use and obtain the incentive funds, but the rush left staff improperly trained, according to the report. One of the ways to correct the error is to train medical transcriptionists to be document integrity auditors, correcting basic spelling and grammar in health records.

"Healthcare is better off with EHRs, but the systems have a long ways to go before the healthcare industry starts seeing benefits," the authors wrote.

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