Value -vs- Price with EHR

15 October 2015

Over the past ten years we have seen both hospitals and physicians change their outboard marketing messages to include billboard, print media and radio to get the attention of the consumer. Regardless of any person’s financial situation, consumers want to know they are getting the best value for the price they pay for goods and services. Why should this be any different for physicians and other healthcare providers? When it comes to purchasing any type of goods or services there is price and then there is value. When it comes to selecting a productive EHR, value supersedes price and has a direct impact on practice profitability and quality of life for the physician and their staff.

Tim McKenna, VP of Sales for MD Logic, explained “it is amazing to see just how many non-productive EHR software companies are selling systems in the EHR market. When the federal government began giving away money for Meaningful Use in 2009 the market reacted by adding over 500 new EHR companies into the EHR market. These companies jumped into the EHR market to chase the government money being given away to physicians that implemented certified EHR technology. In order to get the attention of potential physician buyers, many of these companies offered EHR software at little to no cost. When CMS raised the bar with Meaningful Use Stage II in 2013 the market experienced a huge drop in certified EHR companies due to the complexity and capital needed to develop and support the EHR technology.”

“Unfortunately many physicians did not invest the time to research the EHR market. These physicians shopped on price and made finding the lowest cost the choice of their EHR. The attitude of “all EHR systems are basically the same” could not be further from the truth. What physicians quickly figure out is that “time” is the true value when investing in a productive EHR. The impact of a non-productive EHR includes lost time, less patients seen during clinic hours, unprofessional and computer generated looking progress notes, having to stay late to enter data into the EHR, etc. Making a decision to implement an EHR is a huge decision and one that will financially impact the clinic in either a positive or negative way depending on the EHR selected. A productive EHR will increase efficiency, reduce overhead and maximize profitability.”

“Like any investment in business, the capital invested in EHR technology must show a healthy return on investment. With over 19 years of selling experience in EHR I have listed 5 of the most import items any productive EHR must provide to the customer:"

  1.  A productive EHR should be easy to implement with minimal upstart time
  2.  A productive EHR should allow a clinic to see more patients in the same amount of time
  3.  A productive EHR should allow the physician, PA, NP, PT, RN, MA, etc. to document patient care real-time in the exam room
  4.  A productive EHR should automate the collection of the patient’s health history and eliminate clip-boards being handed to patients
  5.  A productive EHR should allow the provider to go home after the last patient is seen (no staying late to catch up on electronic charting)

“Regardless of the license fees paid by physicians for EHR software, failure of the EHR to keep pace with the workflow of the clinic will prove to be a bad investment. Unfortunately the EHR market is littered with non-productive EHR software that is killing the efficiency of healthcare providers from coast to coast. The trend we see with the majority of these non-productive EHR companies is a very cheap price for their system. At the same time there are many over-priced EHR companies that produce the same non-productive EHR software. Regardless of the price, these EHR companies simply do not understand what it takes to automate the workflow of a clinic. MD Logic is designed exclusively to be used with touch screen applications giving our customers the most intuitive and productive EHR software in the market.”

MD Logic, the leading U.S. provider of high performance EHR and Practice Management Software solutions, is engineered to maximize the efficiency of healthcare providers. Founded in 1995, MD Logic offers the most productive and efficient EHR software in the industry. With installations from coast to coast and internationally, MD Logic is the “gold” standard of the EHR industry.

To learn how your clinic can increase efficiency, reduce overhead, maximize profitability please contact our corporate office at 800-273-7750.