The essentials in 30 seconds

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Introduction

Every hospital visit generates dozens of pieces of medical information: vital signs, diagnoses, prescriptions, lab results, and surgical reports. For decades, this information was recorded on paper, scattered between departments, and lost during transfers between facilities.

The Electronic Health Record (EHR), or DPI in French, was designed to end this fragmentation. An EHR is a patient’s complete digital memory, accessible in real-time by authorized healthcare teams. It is the invisible infrastructure that allows an ER doctor to know, in seconds, the medical history of a patient they have never met before.

But in 2026, the EHR is undergoing a profound transformation. The 19 partner hospitals of Galeon, managing over 3 million patient records and supporting thousands of caregivers daily, are living proof: the EHR is no longer just a storage tool. It is becoming an engine for analysis, prevention, and medical research.

This article lays the foundation: what an EHR is, what it contains, how it works, what the law requires, and why its next evolution toward artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing hospital medicine.

What is the exact definition of an Electronic Health Record (EHR)?

An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a digital system that centralizes all medical, administrative, and paramedical information for a patient within a healthcare establishment. It is accessible in real-time by authorized health professionals, respecting medical confidentiality and current regulations.

The EHR is the digital backbone of any modern healthcare facility. Without it, coordination between departments, traceability of care, and the continuity of the patient journey would be impossible at a hospital scale.

What is the difference between an EHR and a PHR (DMP)?

These terms are often confused, but they designate distinct realities and radically different volumes of data:

• The EHR (Electronic Health Record): Managed by the healthcare facility. It contains 100% of the patient's clinical data generated during the hospital stay. It covers all acts performed within the establishment and serves as the primary tool for medical teams.
• The PHR (Personal Health Record / DMP in France): This is the national digital record managed by the Health Insurance. It acts as a digital health booklet and contains only about 1% of the patient's data (key summaries and final reports). It centralizes health information regardless of which facility provided the care.

These tools are complementary, not competitors. The challenge of interoperability in 2026 is precisely to make them communicate in a fluid and secure manner.

What does an Electronic Health Record (EHR) concretely contain?

The content of an EHR is framed by French regulation, notably the decree of April 29, 2002. It is structured around several major categories of information.

Administrative and identification data

This is the first information recorded upon admission. It includes the patient's full identity, their Social Security Number (NIR), contact details, insurance coverage, and stay-related information (admission date, department, referring physician).Identity is the foundation of the record. An identification error at entry can lead to a cascade of serious medical errors—which is why identity vigilance is a major issue in any healthcare facility.

Medical and clinical data

This is the heart of the EHR. It contains:

• Medical and surgical history
• Known allergies and drug contraindications
• Biological and imaging test results
• Consultation, hospitalization, and surgical reports
• Medication prescriptions and their follow-up
• Vital signs recorded throughout the stay

Paramedical and nursing follow-up data

Nursing and paramedical teams also feed the EHR with:

• Care transmissions
• Clinical observations
• Procedures performed
• Follow-up on care protocolsThis data is as valuable as medical data for ensuring continuity of care between teams.

Consent and regulatory administrative data

The EHR also stores documents related to informed consent, advance directives, authorizations to operate, and all regulatory formalities imposed by law.

What is the legal framework for the EHR in France ?

Maintaining a patient record has been a legal obligation in France since the Law of March 4, 2002, regarding patient rights (Kouchner Law), codified in article L1112-1 of the Public Health Code.

What are the legal obligations for healthcare establishments ?

Every healthcare facility is required to create a record for each hospitalized patient, to keep it for 20 years from the last consultation or stay, and to make it available to the patient upon request within 8 days (48 hours for recent information less than 5 years old).The patient record belongs to the patient. The facility is the guardian, not the owner.

How does the GDPR apply to health data ?

Health data are sensitive personal data under the GDPR. Their processing is subject to reinforced obligations: explicit patient consent, right of access and rectification, security obligation, and mandatory notification in case of a data breach. In France, the hosting of personal health data is subject to a specific certification: the HDS (Health Data Host) certification, delivered by the ANSSI. Any provider that hosts or processes this data must be HDS certified : this is a legal requirement, not an option.

Who can access a patient's EHR ?

Access to the EHR is strictly governed by medical secrecy. Only health professionals directly involved in the patient's care have access, within the limits of what is necessary for their mission. Every access is tracked and auditable.

How does an EHR work in a hospital daily ?

In practice, the EHR is the central work interface for care teams, accessible from department computers, mobile tablets, and bedside terminals.

From admission to discharge : the journey of a patient record

At admission, the administrative team creates or updates the record. The referring physician completes the history and writes the care plan. Throughout the stay, every intervener—doctor, nurse, physical therapist, pharmacist—feeds the record with observations and acts.At discharge, the EHR generates the hospitalization report, transmitted to the attending physician and uploaded to the national PHR (DMP). The record remains active for future care.

What are the operational limits of a traditional EHR ?

Traditional systems have structural limits that facilities encounter in practice:

• Manual entry remains time-consuming and prone to errors
• Unintuitive interfaces generate a high cognitive load for caregivers
• The absence of automatic analysis misses clinical signals that could trigger early warnings
• Silos between facilities make it difficult to maintain the patient journey outside the hospital

What is the difference between a traditional EHR and an intelligent EHR ?

A traditional EHR stores data. An intelligent EHR makes it work.It is the difference between a library and a researcher. The library keeps the books; the researcher reads and cross-references them to draw conclusions.In an intelligent EHR like the one deployed by Galeon, three technological layers transform the data:

• Artificial Intelligence: Analyzes data in real-time, detects anomalies, suggests diagnoses, and automates repetitive tasks.
• Structured Interoperability (FHIR/HL7 standards): Allows data to flow between facilities without friction or loss of information.
• Blockchain Swarm Learning®: Trains AI algorithms on a decentralized inter-hospital network, without the data ever leaving the facility's servers.

What are the challenges and limits of the EHR in 2026 ?

• Identity vigilance: Patient identification errors remain a major risk for medical safety.
• Interface ergonomics: Heavy interfaces weigh on caregivers and contribute to hospital burnout.
• Interoperability: Despite progress, many systems do not yet communicate fluently, hindering the patient journey.
• The digital divide: Large university hospitals have resources that medium-sized facilities struggle to match.
• Cybersecurity: Hospitals are prime targets; an insecure EHR exposes sensitive data and can paralyze an entire facility.

FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions about the EHR

• Can a patient access their own EHR? Yes. Since 2002, patients have the right to access their medical record. The facility has 8 days to transmit it (48 hours for data less than 5 years old).
• How long must a hospital keep the EHR? Generally 20 years from the last stay, or until the patient's 28th birthday for pediatric records.
• What happens if a patient is transferred? Ideally, a summary is sent via the national PHR/DMP. In practice, this remains a key area for interoperability improvements in 2026.
• Can it be shared with the family doctor? Yes, the discharge report is systematically sent to the attending physician.
• EHR vs. Hospital Information System (HIS)? The HIS manages administrative aspects (billing, scheduling), while the EHR is centered on clinical and patient data.
• How to choose an EHR? Key criteria include HDS certification, GDPR compliance, ergonomics, and AI scalability.

Conclusion : what you need to remember about the EHR in 2026

The Electronic Health Record is the fundamental infrastructure of any modern healthcare facility. While the national PHR (DMP) serves as a concise digital health booklet (1% of data), the EHR is the comprehensive memory of hospital care (100% of data).

The new generation of intelligent EHRs, like the one deployed by Galeon across 19 partner hospitals, transforms this passive storage into a tool for analysis and prevention, marking the next structural step in hospital medicine.

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Sources

• Law n° 2002-303 of March 4, 2002 : Regarding patient rights (Kouchner Law), Légifrance.
• Decree n° 2002-637 of April 29, 2002 : Regarding access to personal information, Légifrance.
• CNIL : What is health data?, 2018.
• HL7 International : Technical specifications of the FHIR standard.
• Galeon : Blockchain Swarm Learning® White Paper, 2026.

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