Continued/Part III:
Question #3: Am I facilitating my practice with the new technology or does it force me to restructure my time-tested operations to fit it?
Answering this question requires that you have already answered other; this transformation will be easier by knowing what you want to standardize in your practice–or knowing what your practice needs–and knowing how much your software can standardize selectively. At Clinic Service, we can customize our Saas (Software as a service), web-based software to the practices we serve, but not all EMRs out there can do that. Know what you’re buying and why you need it–or don’t. And don’t forget, learning your software will help you know what to ask your provider to customize for you, and always offer suggestions; after all, they’re the ones that provide the EMR, but you’re the one who has to use it.
Conclusion: Standardizing and bringing into compliance your electronic medical records will only take you so far. Ultimately you need to know how to use your new technology both in order to feed your business and to prevent technology from impeding it–there really isn’t too much of a grey area here, though this depends on the quality of the IT. Ultimately, the responsibility of profitable implementation depends on how much you really know what your business needs in operations management and systems, and what it doesn’t. If you know why specifically you’re getting an EMR, you’ll know how to pick the right one for your business, implementation will seem more like an exciting update and less like a fearful, mandatory overhaul.
Another criterion for your EMR to consider is size; not all businesses are the same size, and neither should and the software solutions to their problems be. And you don’t have to implement alone. There are plenty of resources and third-party options out there once you know how to get started. A third-party could help you by bringing specialized experience in serving doctor/practices, and by recommending products or services that would fit your needs (even those which aren’t their own, with the more scrupulous providers).
But when it comes down to brass tax, if your EMR provides exactly what you need in applications, training, price and customization, there’s no reason it couldn’t improve your very business–what’s more, at Clinic Service, we think this is the most basic duty a technology you take time to adapt should fulfill.
At Clinic Service we are as accountable to you as a medical billing and EMR provider as you are to your patients as doctors. We take your suggestions and questions seriously. If you are a healthcare provider or administrator looking for an EMR, don’t hesitate to respond to this blog or call us with questions you may have. Our ears are open.
About Clinic Service: Founded in 1974 by James Grow as a medical billing company, Clinic Service has never strayed from its mission: To Maximize the Profit for Physicians and Medical Practices. We believe our market leadership and growth in medical billing and supporting services like EMR and EHR is a result of our focus on customer experience and our internal culture. The Clinic Service culture is founded on learning and personal growth.
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