Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Interoperability: Understanding two key concepts for a better Public Health response

It is critical to have immediate access to patient data in one place, at the right time and in the right format for quick responses and coordinated actions and decisions, especially for those who are in the most vulnerable conditions. But also, an adequate and interoperable EHR facilitates the access and sharing of data within the public health system, thus allowing better monitoring and reporting of suspected and confirmed cases, treatment regimens and abnormal conditions, among many others, in an agile and more faithful way than through a paper-based or “non-interoperable” system. This allows to understand more quickly the behavior of the pandemic in a given population; so that adequate and timely containment and/or mitigation interventions can be made.