The two terms are used interchangeably and there is a distinction worth keeping: an electronic medical record is one organisation's record of its own care; an electronic health record is meant to follow the person between organisations. A small therapy practice is buying the first, and being sold the second is how the price and the complexity arrive together. This page is the difference and what it means for a practice writing 3,036 notes a year.
What an electronic medical record system is for
Your practice's own record of its own care: clients, consent, sessions, notes, documents. Complete, retrievable and exportable. That is the whole requirement for most practices, and it is satisfiable at a price that needs no business case.
What electronic health record systems add, and to whom
Interoperability with other providers: referrals, discharge summaries, shared care records and the standards under them. Genuinely valuable in a hospital and largely irrelevant to a three-clinician practice whose referrals arrive by email.
What to check before buying either
Export format, version history, per-clinician access and retention controls. On the worked example the practice will hold notes for years after a client stops attending, and being able to delete on schedule matters as much as being able to keep. Retention is not optional either: the HIPAA Security Rule requires the documentation it mandates to be kept for 6 years from creation or from the date it was last in effect, whichever is later (45 CFR 164.316(b)(2)(i)), so a system that cannot hold a record that long, or cannot give it back to you when you leave, is a system with an expiry date on your obligations.
Questions people ask about electronic medical record systems
Which do we need?
The record of your own care, kept well. Everything else is a feature you are unlikely to use.
Do we have to support referrals electronically?
Only if your referrers do. Most small practices exchange letters, and the record's job is to produce them.
Is there a standard we must meet?
Not a technical one for a private practice. Your professional body's record-keeping standards are what bind you.