Use & Optimization News

Implementing an Automatic Travel History EHR Extraction System

The spread of COVID-19 gave health IT experts another reason to implement patient travel history into the EHR.

Travel History EHR

Source: Getty Images

By Christopher Jason

- An EHR extraction system could be the key for translating unstructured text about patient travel history into actionable health data, according to a study published in JMIR Publications.

Without an automatic extraction system, clinicians would have to manually review travel charts, utilize a specific EHR system that imposes travel history documentation, or ignore travel history completely.

The spread of COVID-19 provided urgency to integrate travel history information into the EHR. Implementing travel history into the EHR can help put infectious symptoms into context for clinicians.