By: Julia Aidan
Submitted: 2011-04-11 03:01:15 | Word Count: 359
The world has become aware of what "green" means and more companies are aimed at being "green". The rising costs are significant in the field of healthcare, hospitals and medical practice. Not only can EMR Software, i.e. Electronic Medical Records, protect healthcare establishments money, but they can also reduce the use of physical goods like paper as well as energy. The following are a few of the ways using EMR software will allow a healthcare establishment to "go green".
Reduced Use of Paper
Traditional medical records are on sheets of paper placed in paper folders. The paper records grow with each patient and their treatment. This depletes natural resources and has other environmental impacts. However, when EMR software is used there is no need for paper medical records to be used. This literally saves trees from being cut and used to make more paper. The software preserves the records and doctors can have instant access to it unlike paper record which need fax, copy, printing, etc. Prescriptions can even be delivered electronically to pharmacies so there is no need for a hard copy of the prescription and the chance of a medical error due to the prescription being illegible goes down significantly.
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Space Needs Decrease
The use of EMR reduces the use of paper thus reducing the storage space of such records. Many healthcare organizations have entire rooms specifically for storage of medical records. However, EMR software completely eliminates the need for a hard copy of medical records. Consequently, the space needed reduces and this is considered "green" because the natural resources needed to support that space also decrease.
Energy Requirements Decrease
EMR also reduces the energy consumption. It is not necessary for copying and faxing of medical records not to mention the extra space for storage is not needed and this cuts back significantly on power bills.
These are just a few of the ways that using EMR software can promote a "green" and environmentally conscious healthcare establishment.
Author Resource:-Electronic Health Records system funding is now available for most doctors and hospitals. EHR Software systems are now being required for Medicare and Medicaid providers
