The fence may pretty comfortable … your exam rooms are full, billing and collections is decent (it can always improve), you’re on auto pilot … right? Your staff is running around, keeping things moving, but seeing a few more patients a day or a week can make a big difference financially … and maybe you want to expand your practice.

What do you stand to gain from implementing an EMR solution anyway? It’s not like changing stethoscopes … it affects the entire work flow of your practice, and may be the smartest business decision you make. But it shouldn’t cost you your summer vacation home.

One of the most important factors is simply this … will you give better patient care? The simple answer … no, but an EMR can reduce a lot of stress and improve work flow.

It’s important that your entire staff is fully engaged in the adoption of an EMR system. Your receptionist, medical records clerks, office manager, nurses and other staffers should help you in conducting a comprehensive evaluation of what they could be doing more efficiently. Plus, they know friends that work in other offices that have already made the switch … and the last thing you want is more turnover.

Here’s a starting point:

• Spend time observing your practice flow … or get someone who can (like us).
• Identify each step required for the routine tasks in your office, from checking in a patient, prescription refilling, and managing patient test results, to long patient phone inquiries.
• Examine how much “paper interaction” that has to take place, including copies/scans/faxes.
• Look for any other time wasting activities or frustrations you currently deal with …

Now you’re more prepared to ask the right questions when EMR reps show up.

Thebest system should be the smoothest transition from paper toelectronic … it should simulate what you do now… walking into a chart room, pulling the chart, and making the notes into the chart, then getting the info to billing and your assistants to file away, but electronically.

If your moving forward in an EMR decision, don’t forget the hardware requirements … you don’t drop a rocket engine in a VW, and don’t put EMR software in slow, low memory computers … your consultant or supplier will help with recommendations. CCHIT certification is something to consider, but the cost of “big brother” watching over your EMR package doesn’t indicate it’s usability, in fact, it hinders any customization efforts of high quality EMR solutions. Not to mention the cost of ownership…and another $5k a year for licensing? Choose carefully … If you’re still not too thrilled, think about what Dr. Robert Lamberts, MD and speaker on behalf of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has to say:

“Would you go to a bank that kept all their records on paper and said it was not going to go to a computerized system because it is too expensive?"

Dr. Lamberts lectures on how to adapt an EMR and sees the quality impact of his EMR every day. For example, the system encourages him to target a 130 mmHg systolic blood pressure in his patients, where before he was satisfied with a 150 reading. Moreover, he said, “it is long past time for doctors to go digital.”¹

Check out the virtual reality approach that locally based HealthTecSoftware implements below:


San Antonio based Quality Billing Solutions and HealthTecSoftware offers their EMR solution and supports their product locally with “ease of use” and very little ramp up time … generally your using the system in about an hour after install.