Picking the right Electronic Health Records (EHR) Software for your healthcare facility can completely transform your practice and guide it towards an enhanced level of care delivery, improved patient confidence and compliance standards, and substantial savings in terms of cost and time. However, you might not be able to get your hands on the best one by just a fluke.
Getting to the right Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Software requires a considerable level of effort to be put into the process and doing a lot of market research. Usually, physicians schedule a live free EMR Demo with the vendor they intend to work with and see if the software works for them. Asking all the questions they have in mind, they clear out all the confusions and get closer to the purchase decision.
A free EHR Demo offers a valuable resource for determining which program will suit your workflows and work best for your medical practice. Nonetheless, what you get out of each EHR demo depends on what you put into it. The more thought and preparation you invest before getting into the actual live session, the more relevant information will be provided. Otherwise, you might find yourself listening to just a canned marketing pitch that doesn’t seem to end and when it does, it leaves you bored as hell.
To help you properly evaluate the EHR/EMR or Practice Management (PM) Software you are interested in, here are some tips on how you, as a physician, and your practice staff can get the most out of your free EMR Demo.
Understanding Your Requirements Properly
To get the right deal, the very first step is to determine what your priorities are. These priorities and set of requirements dictate which software features are required and what offerings are useless. The next step is to communicate these needs to your vendor clearly and ahead of time so that they get proper time to customize the EHR demo according to your preferences
Explore the EMR Software on Your Own
Most of the learning happens during the live demonstration, although experimenting around on your own doesn’t hurt. Try messing around with the features and the functionality on your own and get comfortable with it. You can request a trial version of the software form the vendor and roam around intuitively. This will also give you a better idea about the user interface and ease-of-access of the software.
Ask the Right Questions
Make sure you ask plenty of questions from the vendor during the EMR Software demo. These questions will help you dig deeper into the features and make the vendor talk more and more about the software, revealing implicit details. Here are some questions you may ask during the live EMR Demo,
- How does the software handle the creation and sharing of charts?
- Does the e-prescription (e-Rx) function integrate smoothly with your practice’s and local pharmacies’ standard procedures?
- Are the messaging and communication systems encrypted?
- Is a functional Patient Portal included within the package?
