Choosing the right EHR for your practice
You need to take a good, hard look at how you practice, your particular style. Look at your partners and staff members, try to get a sense of how they go about their business. There are many EHRs with all different styles of use. Make lists of criteria that you are interested in and see if the systems can satisfy your concerns. I had a very long, detailed list of things that I wanted to see the systems do. I wanted to re-order the meds, for instance. No system was able to do that in a reasonable fashion five years ago, except for the system I chose to use. Many could alphabetize or place the meds in the order of last Rx, but that is not what I was interested in. I want the meds in a priority order based upon my needs - cardiac, diabetic, etc. My list of issues was primarily centered around the ability to customize the system to the needs of a multispecialty group practice. Others will have different needs, different desires. Some may want to spend more money and have all the bells and whistles in their system pre-loaded without the need (or possibly ability) of customizing.
The demo by the slick-talking, know every bell and whistle, salesperson is not the be-all and end-all to choosing an EHR. Yes, the system needs to be capable, but it is likely that any salesperson can convince anyone that their system is the greatest. CCHIT certification is a good place to start. Run through your list of desires and see if the system can satisfy your needs. Once you find a capable system that seems to match your needs, drive over to an office where the system is in place so you can see it being used by doctors such as yourself. That is probably the most important step. See it in action.
The following website has comparisons of EHR software for dermatology, neurology, ophthalmology, optometry, podiatry, dental, and more.
http://ehrcompare.com/
Using an EHR? No
Disclosure: None
This might be helpful for some to see. 2009 EHR User Survey from AAFP.
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Owner/practicing partner of Aquidneck Medical Associates, Inc. Contracted as the Case Management Physician Advisor at Newport Hospital (a Lifespan affiliate) and as an advisor for BCBS of RI to help facilitate HIT integration in community practices
I am not a pediatrician but there are 5 in my group. I helped train them and set up the system in 2005. They have done a lot of their own customization, templates and such and appear to work very efficiently with eClinicalWorks. I would get one of them to join this forum, but it is hard enough to get everyone to meetings - somewhat like herding cats - if that is the right analogy. Anyway, you might learn more about eCW from the the user forum www.ecwusers.com. You should know, however, that that forum is also a sounding board for problems/fixes/development items and such. There are many discussions that might answer your question more appropriately, that is, directly from pediatricians as there are many pediatricians that are clearly happy with the EMR.
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Owner/practicing partner of Aquidneck Medical Associates, Inc. Contracted as the Case Management Physician Advisor at Newport Hospital (a Lifespan affiliate) and as an advisor for BCBS of RI to help facilitate HIT integration in community practices
Haven't acquired my ehr as of yet, but I have been using a small home grown program which is not web based or cchit certified, so I am familiar with using an ehr in general in my office. The piece that I am most concerned with is the billing piece/software attached to the medical record piece. I am impressed with Athena's billing module but not with its clinical module. I am a pediatrician in solo practice with a PA. The best ehr I have demo'd is by AR Med. It is user friendly and "thinks" like a physician and is currently being used by many western and mid-western docs and most recently by a pediatrician in Massachusetts. Unfortunately it hasn't reached RI. Are there any pediatricians out there who would like to elaborate on their eclinical works experience? I found that ehr rather cumbersome to use with its many "clicks". I like an ehr that is more "intuitive". Appreciate the feedback.
Using an EHR? Yes - Non-web based intra office EHR
Disclosure: none
I have now used two different EMR systems in my small, private practice. Both times when choosing I met with a variety of vendors. It can get overwhelming and I agree with the other comment that watching the very experienced, prepped presentation by the sales rep is far from reality. It is great to see what their system is capable of, but won't be the real world when you start trying to use it. My advice is talk to other docs using the different systems. The vendors should be willing to supply you with names of docs/practices using their system. Best to talk to local practices because there can be variablity depending on where they are using it. I would also suggest trying the system yourself. Ask them to put in a test patient and try entering what you would do normally in your office. But remember that any demo is prepared to show the easiest and slickest set up. The bottom line is talk to those with real experience.
Using an EHR? Yes - Athena
Disclosure: Own my own practice
all of the "market leading" EHRs (we're still in the early adopter phase of EHRs so the leaders today may not be leaders tomorrow) have relative advantages and disadvantages that are typically minor, unless your practice has an unusual need (as David G noted) addressed by a specific vendor. The real value will come down to how you implement the EHR; recent studies have shown you can implement an EHR and gain no value. The greatest asset to successfully leveraging an EHR to improve your practice is having a community of users for sharing lessons learned, configurations, and implementation approaches. What's the local hospital system supporting for their physicians? What are your peers using? Is there a local service group who can support your practice? In other words--which EHR is your local community investing the greatest energy in learning and optimizing? The more users...the better.
Using an EHR? Yes - eClinicalWorks
Disclosure: Director, Clinical Solutions, Microsoft Health Solutions Group