| Healthcare, along with construction,
education, and retail are ranked as being the slowest adopters
of Information Technology (IT). With more pressure than ever
from government, insurers and patients, why is healthcare
still so far behind?
There are currently over 200 PM/EMR software vendors vying
for your business, making the search for the right software
a difficult and daunting task. Because of the technical nature
of the product, it is difficult for the average consumer to
understand the inner workings of software and its potential
pitfalls. The software business is really very different from
other types of businesses because a company may spend 2-5
years developing a product with all expenses and no revenue.
Once the product is finished and ready for the market place,
it can easily become a free for all of "how many sales
can we make this year?". As a result, software companies
rely heavily on a strong sales team with big commissions to
sell their product. This is bad news for the consumer as what
you see is not always what you get.
EMR Systems generally have three price levels. The first
level is your boxed systems for small one (1) to two (2) provider
offices. These systems are usually older products with a large
client base that will provide you with the basics. These types
of products generally run below $3,000. The second level is
your more customized systems for Small to Medium sized offices.
These products will often require on-site installation and
training because they need to be customized for each application.
Prices for these products usually run between $5,000 to $35,000
depending on the number of providers. For example, a small
one (1) to two (2) provider office can expect to pay between
$5,000 to $15,000. A larger office of 5-10 providers can expect
to pay around $3,000 per additional provider, bringing the
total cost to around $25,000 to $35,000. You must keep in
mind, however, that with most system quotes, hardware, installation
and training are not included.
Not all software is created equal. Products that may look
similar at first glance can be entirely different. Judging
a software system's ease of use, customization flexibility
and the vendors willingness to make customizations for you
require you to look at the software system and its company
in greater depth.
First things first. Before you contact any EMR software vendor,
you will want to decide what you hope to accomplish with the
implementation of this software in your office. What problems
are plaguing your office? Are you looking to improve organization,
eliminate paperwork, increase efficiency, reduce staffing,
improve your billing, deliver a higher quality of service
to your patient’s or simply just have an electronic
way to do billing. By accomplishing these goals what can you
save? Now set your budget.
Once you have a plan in place start looking around to see
what is out there. Ask your colleagues what they are using
and if they are happy with it. Do your research, most companies
have fairly informative websites and some even have online
demonstrations.
Be realistic when purchasing anything high tech for your
office. This stuff may be easy to use by the doctor or computer
whiz who made it but extremely difficult for the average user.
Doctor Smith’s way of running his office and documenting
his patient's visits may not be the same way you do these
things.
Get the right people involved to help make this happen. As
you put a higher emphasis on technology you are increasing
your dependency on this technology. No patient wants to see
you crawling under a desk while on the phone with Dell’s
Tech Support. You only need to know how to use this new software
not fix its problems; put someone else in charge of this job
and make sure they will be available in case something goes
wrong.
Your staff can often be a huge hurdle in the implementation
of new technologies. They fear that technology is there to
replace them or inconvenience them. Your office's inefficiencies
often are what gives them a paycheck at the end of the week.
It’s expected for staff to have a certain level of resistance
towards the adoption of new technologies in your office. Get
them excited about the new technology and let them know how
this is going to provide them with new opportunities in your
office.
One thing remains a constant, and that is that there is no
shortage of software that has been abandoned because 1)it
did not live up to what it said it would do, 2) it was too
difficult to use, 3) it simply was not convenient enough,
and/or 4) the support was so bad that simple problems turned
into big problems real fast.
This article "EMR System" is courtesy
of:
Health
Technology Review, a website focused on providing unbiased
information on healthcare IT and Electronic Medical Record
software.
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