There are many choices out there for Elecrtonic Medical Records and we know how difficult it is to select one. We recommend that you demo many products before ever selecting one.
Preliminary Steps to Implementing Electronic Medical Records:
- Find out about regional incentives available for implementing EMR
- Purchase or lease high quality printer/scanner that can easily scan documents to a computer in your office or your server(may not be necessary)
- Test the computer literacy of your nursing staff as they will be needed to document H&P or Vitals in the EMR
- Decide on either tablet pcs or computers in every exam room and the nurses station
- Look into leasing/purchasing options for computer equipment if your current computers are outdated
- Evaluate your own desires for a .net/asp or internally hosted application
- Determine current cost savings with implementing EMR. Things to consider- More accurate coding, chart prep savings, staff hours reduction(10% after 6 months), transcription cost savings, etc…
- Determine variable costs increase with the implementation of Electronic Medical Records- Productivity drop during transition, licensing fees, support costs, computer maintenance costs, purchase/lease costs for additional computers, training costs, scanner costs, etc….
Top Things to Consider:
- Ease of Use-Directly will impact your productivity and therefore your bottom line. Don’t expect to be more productive for at least 6 months
- All in one solutions PM+EMR vs. EMR interfacing with PM through X-Link or HL7
- Must be easy for your nurses to learn
- Affordability, what does the annual support fee look like?
- Are upgrades included?
- ICD-10 Conversion
- Work Flow Efficiencies
- CCHIT Certified-make sure program will qualify for stimulus plan and early adoption bonus
- Functionality for your specialty
- Lab Interface-Una-Directional or Bi-Directional
- Will lab or hospital pay for 85% of EMR
- Medicare E-Prescribe