Medical EMR from Electronic Medical Records Group - Practice Management And EHR Software For Clinicians

Medical EMR

Technology has changed virtually every industry in the US economy over the past 10 years, ensuring America's lead in business by creating productivity efficiencies that were never considered before. Why not the Medical and Healthcare industries, then? Certainly, medical diagnosis and treatment computerization continues to advance, and find early adopters, while Medical business management software systems, including Medical EMR, have gained fairly limited acceptance.

The question, of course, is why. There are a number of interesting reasons why Medical EMR is just beginning to gain wide acceptance, and why now is the best time to consider an electronic medical records system.

If It Isn't Broke

For many, many years, older doctors who were not very technology-oriented avoided medical practice management software systems (including Medical EMR), mainly because of a single point: "they didn't need it." In many cases throughout the United States, especially in Rural areas with declining populations, Medical EMR systems do in fact provide limited advantages. If a clinic or practice is gradually shrinking its patient base, and is not currently using computerized patient records, then there may be few benefits there.

However, if a medical practice is growing fairly consistently, Medical EMR can bring about new efficiencies and lessen staff costs as patient numbers begin to build. Adding a new patient becomes extremely easy, as does scheduling appointments with a Medical EMR software system. And as the healthcare needs of Americans continue to grow, a Medical EMR system greatly eases the paperwork burden for the doctor, allowing more time for actual patient care.

Frugality

Although some would like to deny it, straight up frugality is a trait that the majority of doctors in the US (and around the world) share. This has meant a real technological lag, especially in the realm of information management systems, which of course includes practice management and Medical EMR software. After all, it's easy to pay for a machine that you can immediately charge your patients for (such as an X-Ray), whereas the line is far less obvious when it comes to managing your business. It is not possible to charge a patient extra because you're efficiently managing their medical record. And thus, frugality has won out… until now.

Stimulus and Medical EMR

In 2009, as part of the Federal Stimulus package, Congress looked at the overall savings that industry-wide Medical EMR adoption could provide the healthcare system (and by extension, Medicare and Medicaid), and made a key decision: the time for electronic medical records adoption was now.

By including up to $44,000 in Medicare incentives and up to $64,000 in Medicaid incentives (intended to pay for "meaningful use" of Medical EMR), the Government has mandated that electronic medical records is the future, and the future is now. What's more, the future (adopting and installing it) is free! The rush to install medical EMR systems is now on, especially as the initial maximum incentives are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010. What this means is that those who adopt EMR now will likely receive the maximum incentive, whereas those who wait will not. It's a simple equation. In which group would you like your practice to be?

Gaining the benefits of the Electronic Medical Records Group MediRange system is easier than you might think. To get a better view of the system, please apply for a demo here. Or, if you have any questions about the MediRange suite of medical software products, or adopting an EMR system in your practice, please contact us here.