Three Things To Look For In An Electronic Medical Record System

In a rare case of large-organization-as-early-adopter, HMOs and public health care concerns have understood the benefits of electronic medical record system applications for years. Back in the pre-Windows days, these organizations were the only ones that had even heard of "electronic medical records", and it paid off. EMR systems have long enabled Big Healthcare to grow their systems and cut bottom line costs, while providing superb ROI.

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

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 changed so much for the electronic medical record system user base. Suddenly, Medicare and Medicaid incentives made it possible for doctors to adopt new EMR systems and have it paid for by the government! The industry immediately found itself attracting a lot of bandwagon jumpers anxious to access free government funds. The result is more choice, but also less quality controls and more shoddy vendors. Finding the best system is a difficult puzzle for many doctors, but three key points in determining what EMR software to go with include:

1. Keep It Simple - Installing and using an entire new system that will completely change your office's workflow is not easy. So shouldn't the EMR system itself be easy to use? Avoiding products with gawky or ugly interfaces is the best way to save adoption, training and support costs for every physician. Stated simply, the easier the product is to use on a daily 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 get-go, and you'll save yourself a lot of pain.

2. Keep Hardware Cheap And Replaceable - Is a vendor offering you an electronic medical record system that runs 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 computers they run on 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 taken for a ride.

3. CCHIT-Certified - Question: what happens when the government provides a certain subgroup of the software industry a big subsidy? Answer: every code monkey with a shingle and a vehicle joins that subgroup. Everyone "becomes" an expert seemingly overnight. This is exactly what has occurred within the electronic medical record software industry. Which is why, thankfully, trusted vendors, teaming up with real physcians, have gotten together to create set of standards aimed at leaving the bandwagon jumpers behind. It's called CCHIT. And it ensures that you aren't getting taken for a ride by a slightly dubious vendor. It takes an excellent EMR software application to qualify for CCHIT status, so ensuring your electronic medical record system is approved will save you a lot of pain, both short and long term.

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 a lot of things you should understand first.

Carly Wilkinson is an editor/trainer at http://www.medical-software.org. See more EMR hints, see a free demonstration and discover more about electronic medical records here.