The Big Three In Electronic Medical Record System Shopping

Big Healthcare has known about the benefits of an electronic medical record system for years

. In fact, large hospitals and HMOs were the early adopters of these systems, some stretching back to the not-so-good old days of the 1990s, when two-color screens and arduous UNIX interfaces were all the rage. Yes, collecting and digitizing medical records has been an important part of managing large healthcare organizations for quite a long time, and has provided ROI well beyond the price of the original systems.

But what of the small, single doctor practice? What about the practice with three to five doctors operating in one or two offices? Between 1990 and 2004, these doctors were completely absent from electronic medical record system adoption. In fact, it wasn't until Windows PCs became extraordinarily cheap, and user interfaces got graphical that small practices even considered computerizing. The cost was just too massive.

The 2009 Federal Stimulus program altered the EMR system installation base even more. By providing doctors with big rewards for "meaningful use" of an electronic medical record system, the number of vendors and available software exploded. Unfortunately, this large degree of choice has led to a lot of pretenders in the field, meaning it has actually become more difficult to find the right company to trust. Here are just a few points to consider:

1. Keep It Simple - Adopting and using an entire new system that will completely alter your office's workflow is not easy. So shouldn't the EMR system itself be easy to use? Avoiding products with gawky or difficult interfaces is the most critical way to save adoption, training and support costs for every physician. Stated simply, the easier the application is to use on a day to day basis, the more efficient it is, the easier it is to train staff, and the fewer times a call to support must be made. Keep it simple from the start, and you'll save yourself a lot of hassle.

2. Keep Hardware Cheap And Replaceable - Is a vendor offering you an electronic medical record system that works on UNIX? Run fast and far away from them! The fact is, Windows PCs not only make most EMR interfaces very usable (and thus, much easier to learn), but also make the hardware far cheaper. Why buy a $20,000 system when a $400 one will offer the same benefits? Avoid any developer that suggests "specialized hardware". It's quite likely you are being ripped off.

3. CCHIT Certification - Simple fact: when the government offers a specific part of the software industry a huge incentive plan, that part will grow faster than you might think. "Experts" immediately magically appear. The electronic medical record system industry is no different. Unqualified developers are everywhere. Fortunately, the original developers banded together to create a set of standards that ensures "low hanging fruit" get the respect they deserve. It's called CCHIT-certification, and it will save you a mint. Ensuring that your EMR system is CCHIT qualified not only ensures you qualify for government incentives, but makes your system a "gold medal product" within the industry.

This is just the beginning when it comes to finding a quality EMR vendor. Adopting an electronic medical record system is never easy, and there are many you should look at.

by:Carly Wilkinson

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