The consistent and widespread use of electronic health records (EHR) in high income countries has opened new markets and potential for how clinical information is stored and used^*1. Easy accessibility to their health information for patients and a systemic streamlined workflow, online, for providers and healthcare managers has been the EHR's unique selling point for many years now^*1. However technical challenges in establishing interoperability, a patient centric interface designed only for providers and clinical managers are some of the limitations in the growing digitalization market^*1.

"Limited interoperability contributed to inaccurate medical records, perpetuated existing incorrect information, impaired clinical decision-making, and often required patients to resort to using workarounds. A move towards a one-centralised system approach, strengthening data security measures to augment other efforts to increase interoperability and prioritising health information technology training^*1"

Digitizing healthcare data is a process that coverts paper based medical charts to online libraries of medical information that enables not only easy access to patient health information but is a portal that separates large data into structured databases^{* 3}. Using online resources to improve care efficiency in hospitals by incorporating features like quick access to a) care providers through telehealth portal, b) increased care collaborations with laboratories and pharmacies and c) automation in billing and payments to reduce turnaround time; have a significant impact in the way healthcare is addressed today^{* 8}.

Electronic health records have paved the way to improve population and public health information needs benefitting governments in improving their healthcare policies simultaneously promoting lifestyle changes and better health outcomes^{* 2}. The key outcomes from an analytical study in 2017 across a sample of over ninety managers and health information management staff to understand the benefits in implementing EHR include^{* 2}:

1. Timely and quick access to information
2. Limited infrastructure impairs full scale implementation
3. Easy communication between care providers, better information management
4. Information storage retrievable across time

As a comprehensive patient data storage platform, the electronic health records have evolved since its implementation in the late 1900s using a standard format where it served as a hybrid documentation tool along with paper based medical charts for IP/OP and insurance claim purposes. The evolution of EHR over the last three decades to become a primary data repository of personal medical information stored in a chronological order accessible from across the world with internet, the most critical advantage being unlimited storage on the cloud.

"It wasn't just about inefficiency; it affected patient care. Imagine a doctor trying to track down a patient's medical history that's stored in different paper files across various clinics. That's a logistical nightmare"^*4.

As an efficient tech tool in healthcare, EHR's don't just replace paper based medical charts anymore. Advancements in technology influence healthcare practices to simplify many processes in hospitals reducing workload on human resources while making a patient visit to their provider a comfortable & care free experience. The first use of digital medical charts dates back at 1960 wherein single line use for manually updating and storing patient medical information including scanning of reports and limited accessibility.

"But labelling Electronic Health Records (EHRs) merely as digitized variants of age-old paper medical records is a severe misjudgement of their potential. They are not simply aggregators of medical history, diagnoses, treatments, immunizations, allergies, radiology imagery, or lab results."^*6

The 1990's saw a standardization approach to organize this data in a secure channel making it easy to search patient medical information across a timeline^{* 4}. Apart from just being a database of patient specific medical information - features of interoperability between services at the hospitals started being established using these online resources. Laboratory device integration to upload results automatically into a central server, e-prescriptions to transmit mediations and its availability directly from the provider's dashboard to the inhouse pharmacy are some of the key features that prove successful to EHR use, even now in 2025^{* 4* 5}.

A 2023 study conducted to understand one of the world's most popular EHR provider's contribution to the healthcare system across the world showed positive results towards having a multi module approach, an EHR that incorporates wide variety of functionalities in a single unified interface . Some of the highlighted benefits of similar systems inferred in this study include^{* 6}:

1. Interoperability and multi module integration
2. Care quality improvement and patient safety
3. Clinical decision support tools with AI capabilities
4. Further research in domains like population health, bio surveillance, bio banks alike

The continuing benefits of electronic health records are data management, clinical decision support, patient engagement, interoperability, quality reporting and billing/coding thus extending the usage of EHR's beyond just data storage^*7. Since the millennium years, advancements in health information technology have reduced the implementation costs of EHR's considerably making the model a viable approach for many healthcare organizations across the globe.

Touching lives not just in developed countries but across nations with large populations like Africa where a streamlined channel of medical information can over a certain duration make the biggest difference to the healthcare system as a whole.

In conclusion, technology can transform healthcare for the better provided constantly upgraded in the same speed as the technology growth . Patient care is and will always be the heart of any hospital or care provider organization and its EHR's the heartbeat. Ensuring a regulated continuous tech cardiogram is the role of health technology partners like Agastha who work in reducing medical errors, promoting patient engagement from homewith our patient portal and improved care coordination thus ensuring healthcare delivery at its best.