Choosing a Right EMR and Migration of Data

EMR (or electronic medical record) is the electronic version of manual patient medical records. The world is going digital to reap the benefits of digital technology and medical industry is not an exception to the rule. EMR is the new buzz word in the medical industry for the benefits it can deliver to doctors, hospitals as well as patients. However, the success to a great extent depends on selecting a right “EMR system” for the practice.

Selecting a right EMR system for the practice or hospital is not an easy task. There are numerous vendors providing a wide range of systems, each with a different set of functionalities. In this situation the task of choosing a most suitable system becomes very difficult. In case wrong or unsuitable electronic medical records software is chosen for the practice, instead of streamlining the process it might make the task more difficult.

There are certain points that need to be taken into consideration when choosing an EMR for the practice. At first, taking note of the existing system of records management is very important. Then defining current and future practice needs is of utmost importance. Before choosing a system one should also compare a no. of available options in the market and also ensure that the vendor provides with training and long term support.

Once a right or suitable EMR is selected for the practice the next important task being data migration. The basic setup tasks need to be considered before migration can be started. The migration must be done very carefully so that the product works fine. However, certain bugs can not be eliminated at this stage. Truly speaking, it takes about 6-12 months (and sometimes longer) for a practice to become comfortable with an EMR system and get the bugs worked out.