Judy Faulkner, CEO of Epic, one of the largest providers of electronic medical records in the United States, wants to change the "e" in EHR into "c" and turn EHR into CHR(Comprehensive Health Record).

　　Recently, in a meeting with Epic customers, Faulkner said: "Now everything is electronic, and the’ e’ can be discarded. What we have to do now is to break the walls of hospitals or clinics. " She explained that medical services now pay more attention to keeping patients healthy, rather than simply treating diseases. "Then we must also pay attention to factors outside the hospital walls."

　　What is CHR?

　　For CHR, Faulkner said that Epic is considered from three aspects: first, there is still a lot of information not included in EHR; Second, medical care that is not carried out in the hospital also needs to be included. "We integrate it into CHR, which is the community and social medical part of CHR"; Finally, traditional medical services that need to be carried out in the hospital are also being moved outside the hospital, such as remote health monitoring information.

　　Unlike EHR, CHR contains more kinds of data, such as social determinants, including diet, obesity and loneliness. All these factors will have a great influence on personal health.

　　Another factor that prompted Epic to make this change is that "other countries are investing more money to solve these social problems, thus improving their people’s health," Faulkner said. "The United States can’t fall behind."

　　"If you want to keep patients healthy and profitable, you must have a CHR," Faulkner said. "It will become your central nervous system and an important tool for you to manage institutions and set standards."

　　CHR is the common development direction of electronic medical record supplier giants.

　　It is worth noting that Epic has not entered an unknown territory by "changing the name" of electronic medical records. In fact, its rivals are already taking corresponding countermeasures. Regarding Faulkner’s move, Kyle Armbrester, chief product officer of Cerner, another electronic medical record supplier, said: She chose the right direction and took a good step.

　　Zane Burke, president of Cerner, said: "We have been discussing longitudinal health records, including social determinants and other relevant data within two years." At present, more than 100 users are using Cerner’s population health management platform. These customers and Cerner have developed Healthcare, which can obtain data from various and unrelated information sources outside hospitals and clinics.

　　In addition, executives of eClinicalWorks and Athenahealth both said that they are expanding the types of information contained in electronic medical records, although each company’s approach is slightly different.

　　Girish Navani, CEO of eClinicalWorks, said: "Electronic medical records are constantly updated technologies, and integrating new technologies will have a far-reaching impact on medical care." According to him, the new version of eClinicalWorks’ electronic medical record, Version 11, includes cloud connection, interoperability, genetic screening of precision medical care, predictable risk model of population health and forms of patient participation including remote service.

　　Girish Navani said: "What we need most is a platform to make use of all this information. If the data is just put there and not used, it will not solve the problems of the medical industry. If medical providers want to obtain data, they must have a series of supporting facilities. Let’s do it. "

　　Replace EHR with CHR

　　Blain Newton, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics, said that there are naturally many obstacles to creating such a CHR. "Turning EHR into CHR must ensure that the patient’s data is comprehensive, and this challenge will always exist. This kind of data integration lies not only in the integration of information in various electronic medical records, but also in the integration of different information sources. "

　　Newton believes that a CHR must be synchronized with the ever-expanding amount of information, which requires more analytical ability than data integration and providing correct information to medical institutions.

　　When asked whether Epic would continue to use the word CHR, Faulkner said, "Yes, it will become a new term instead of EHR." Although no supplier has renamed EHR CHR, hospitals should be aware that their suppliers are changing in this direction. "This is the direction of medical development," Burke said. "It’s just that people have just noticed it, but it’s not a question of changing the name."

　　1. Healthcare IT News：Epic CEO Judy Faulkner is standing behind switch from EHRs to ‘CHRs’

　　2. Healthcare IT News：Epic’s rival EHR vendors say they too are making the ‘CHR’ switch