What is the purpose of the Electronic Health Record (EHR)?

The purpose of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) is to systematically manage patient information. An EHR is designed to provide a digital version of a patient's paper chart, enabling healthcare providers to access comprehensive and up-to-date patient medical history, treatment plans, diagnoses, medications, allergies, laboratory results, and radiology images. The systematic management of this information enhances the quality of care, improves patient safety, and facilitates coordination among different healthcare providers.

By centralizing patient data in an electronic format, EHRs promote efficient data sharing, streamline workflows, and contribute to better decision-making in clinical settings. They also support the integration of various health systems and make it easier to track patient outcomes over time.

While other options involve important functions within healthcare, they do not capture the primary focus of the EHR, which is the holistic management of patient information rather than isolated aspects like surgical procedures, financial records, or medication inventory tracking.