What is a risk area associated with Electronic Health Records (EHRs)?

The choice that highlights a risk area associated with Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is the potential for templates to lead to unnecessary documentation. When healthcare providers use standardized templates provided by EHR systems, there is a tendency to include excessive, irrelevant, or redundant information in clinical documentation. This can occur because templates often contain pre-populated fields that may not apply to every patient encounter, leading physicians to document items that do not reflect the actual patient condition or visit details.

This not only increases the volume of documentation but also makes it challenging to discern essential clinical elements relevant to patient care. Furthermore, such practices can impact the quality of care, as the focus may shift from meaningful documentation to simply fulfilling template requirements. Ensuring that documentation is accurate, concise, and valuable for each specific patient encounter is key for effective healthcare delivery, and excessive templating can undermine these goals.

By recognizing this risk, auditors and healthcare professionals can work to improve documentation practices, ensuring that they provide clear, relevant, and individualized information that accurately reflects patient encounters.