In the 1960's colleges in the United States began to develop software that could be used for electronic medical records.  It took until the 1990's before a usable program was initially implemented.  This article will address the major pros and cons.

PROS

• Information available to medical facilities is very complete including demographics, personal information, billing information, diagnoses, surgeries, allergies, lab results, x-rays, smoking status, vitals, medications prescribed and those discontinued.  
• Medications can be renewed or prescribed directly to the pharmacy for pick up by the patient.  Unusual reactions to medications can be noted and avoided in the future.
• Access to any area of the record can be obtained by using a search word and/or using tabs.
• In case of an emergency records are immediately available to the treating medical team for use in treatment.  This alone can save lives. 
• Limited access by insurance companies for preauthorization of procedures.   
• Legibility is a given and it's no longer necessary to try and read medical personnel handwriting. 
• The reduction of paper files has been a real boost to the ecology.  Disuse of paper files has had a major favorable impact. Paper records for over 340 million patients is a lot of paper.
• Patients have access to appointments, lab results, medications and other information through patient portals.

CONS

• Security is somewhat of an issue as there have been thousands of breeches over the years and with HIPPA in effect good security is mandatory. 
• Power outages affecting computer systems could be a major problem if you don't have a backup generator. Loss of the internet due to sun spots or some other issue could be disastrous.
• Records can be accessible to anyone in the facility with a password.
• Start up, maintenance and training costs are very high. Upwards of $30,000 - $50,000 startup and $8,500 per year maintenance per provider. 
• Patients are seen less often which can depersonalize patient-provider interaction. Also, providers spend so much time looking into records on the computer, that it detracts from patient care and attention.
• There are many electronic medical record systems available and they don't necessarily interact. This means the primary provider may have a different system than the local hospital and the necessary information is not available. This results in having to print out the records and fax or email them.  Leading to a major delay in patient treatment which could make the difference in life or death. It can also lead to incorrect treatment because of unknown diseases, allergies or other issues.
•  If lawyers looking for reasons to bring suit can find a medication entered wrong or some other mistake can give them a distinct advantage.

This is just a basic overview of the Pros and Cons of Electronic Medical Records.  Do you have more to add?

Related Article: Complaints About Electronic Medical Records Increase

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