Does Your Electronic Medical Record System Have These Three Characteristics?

Keep This Simple | Keep Hardware Cheap And Replaceable | Get CCHIT Qualified Systems Only

Large HMOs and hospital organizations have experienced the benefits associated with electronic medical record system software almost from its first creation. These companies were the earliest of early adopters, with EMR a part of their company structure as considerably back in the 80s and early 90s. Managing these assets and patient records has recently been a boon to bigger organizations, with most EMR systems paying for themselves many times over.

The single doctor and small practice, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found when it came to electronic medical record system adoption. Early phase of EMR software was skipped by a lot of small practitioners, and this would not differ until 2004. Suddenly, Windows Personal computers and cheap hardware made EMR systems far more interesting to the only physician, and early adopters commenced appearing.

The North American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 improved so much for the electronic medical record system users. All of a sudden, Medicare and Medicaid bonuses made it possible for doctors to adopt new EMR systems and have it paid for by the government! The industry immediately found itself getting a lot of popularity jumpers anxious to gain access to free government funds. The result is more choice, but also less quality controls and more substandard vendors. Finding the best system is a difficult puzzle for many doctors. Three key details in deciding what EMR system to go with include:

1. Keep This Simple - Adopting and using a whole new system that will completely change your office's workflow is not easy. So should not the EMR system itself be easy to use? Avoiding products with gawky or difficult interfaces is the best way to save adoption, training and support costs for each and every medical professional. Stated simply, the less complicated the application is to use on an everyday most basic, the more efficient it is, the easier it is to train personnel, and the less times a call to back up must be made. Keep it simple from the get-go, and you will save yourself a lot of pain.

2. Keep Hardware Cheap And Replaceable - Is someone offering you an electric medical record system that runs on UNIX? Close your ears and run away from them! The truth is, Windows PCs not only make most EMR interfaces recognizable (and thus, much easier to learn), but also make the systems cheaper. Why buy a $20, 000 system when a $400 one will give you the same benefits? Avoid any developer that suggests "specialized hardware". He is most probably a scammer.

3. Get CCHIT Qualified Systems Only - The recent incentives have quite simply meant that every designer with a dog and a 'go get' the business is now an "experienced EMR developer". Yell "free government cash" in any crowd and see how quick people come running. A similar result has taken place in the EMR industry. Eventually, the original industry players formed an association that gives quality control where there wasn't any (particularly for these phony vendors) before. It's called CCHIT. And when your EMR is CCHIT-certified, you can make certain that not only would it qualify for government incentives, but that it has what it should be called an "elite product". No CCHIT-certification often means trouble, for the short and long term.


The three points above are a great location to start when looking to install or change your EMR software. There are many other considerations, of course Science Articles, but these are critical to making sure your electronic medical record system is the best you can get.