Time, Money and Security

Apart from the cost issue of adopting an EMR system is the disruptive impact that these implementations can have on a health care organization's short-term operations, especially for smaller clinics. It's a tough sell to persuade physicians to buy an expensive EMR system in the first place, but what most don't realize until implementation begins, is the long learning curve. This forces doctors to cut back on their patient loads (which means lost revenues) by as much as 25 per cent for up to a month during the implementation transition.

If you're a four-person practice, you can't afford to take four weeks off and tell patients to come back and see you when you're ready.

These constraints have led to the emergence of application service provider (ASP) or web-based type EMR applications aimed at lowering the costs and burdens associated with on-site installations. Instead of thousands (and even millions of dollars in the case of hospitals), a web- based application or service can cost only a few hundred dollars or even "pay as you go" as in the case of Global MedData's digital transcription services. Still, some physicians are leery about having a third-party entity store confidential patient information however, under a hosted model, you don't have to worry about employees or patients tampering with records. Today, the best systems should have a reporting mechanism to show who has created the document, altered, viewed, updated or even re-routed the document in any way.

With Global MedData's solutions, we have designed our product with these factors in mind. The end result is a faster way to do business and a business model that makes sense, with a very short learning curve - minutes instead of days. We intend to build more services or modules with this in mind.

If you've not tried our service, contact us for a free trial at info@globalmeddata.net. If you're already a customer, feel free to contact us. We are always interested in feedback and suggestions that will help you operate more efficiently.

Stay tuned. Next week we'll discuss the pros and cons of voice recognition transcription.