Is your practice still using a paper-based records system? Have you wondered if the benefits of implementing an electronic health record (EHR) system are worth the hassles of converting your files to digital format? This article provides a fact-based comparison of paper-based systems and EHR patient files management.

A simple software solution may be right under your nose, ready to help you make life easier for every member of your medical organization as well as each patient. The patient portal that you can activate with your electronic health record software will save everyone time and effort.

Big changes are coming to how we provide healthcare services in the United States. In a bid to improve efficiencies and treat more patients more quickly with less waste, we are going to be transitioning from the older model based on fees for services to a new one that is dedicated more to value-based reimbursements.

Anyone who has endured spending too much time in a crowded waiting room waiting for a doctor can appreciate the benefits of an early and much-missed aspect of our healthcare system: the humble house call. And if you’ve ever felt so sick that you would much more prefer having a doctor see you at home than endure spending even a minute in a waiting room with other coughing individuals, a house call would be ideal. It helps conserve your strength as well as keep you from infecting others in public.

Of course, your healthcare organization is set up as a business and you have to maintain good financial practices and standards to achieve your targeted range of revenue flow. But the work your team does is not designed primarily to make a profit as much as it is devoted to diagnosing, healing, and helping to maintain the health of each patient that passes through your doors.

How well would your medical practice function if something went awry with your computer systems and access to medical software was spotty or completely unavailable for a day or even longer?

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How do you stand out in the crowd? If a person has just moved into your city and is looking for a new doctor without a referral, how easily would your medical practice come to his or her attention? Consider that a potential patient will likely go online and search for terms such as “doctor” or your specialty along with the name of a city or county to find a local healthcare provider. Besides doing some basic research, patients will be paying attention to what they see on various social media platforms.

Controlling expenses is becoming a priority at your medical practice, and you now have a mandate to examine your labor requirements in an era of cloud computing. If you have been relying on local servers to host your electronic health record software, your setup will naturally need people on staff to maintain the hardware, software,and network integrity. Depending on the size and scope of your organization, you may need your systems up and running 24/7, which adds to labor costs even more for your mission-critical software setup.

When practice administrators and independent physicians compare medical software, it's imperative to ask the right questions in order to find a best-fit solution. Naturally, every fiscally responsible decision-maker wants to know about costs, however, digging deeper into the functionality and features of any software upgrade will save precious time and money during the implementation process, and ensure long-term success.