What is EMR?
Why EMR?
Cost Reduction
Revenue Enhancement
Improved Administrative Efficiency
Enhanced Clinical Efficiency and Patient Care
Ease of Prescribing
Additional Benefits, Pay Per Performance

What is EMR? 

An EMR (electronic medical records) is medical software that allows you to efficiently create, store, revise and retrieve patient charts on a computer.  The successful implementation of an EMR enables a practice to ‘go paperless’ or replace its stacks of paper charts with streamlined electronic charts. This provides practices with tremendous productivity and efficiency benefits.  

Why EMR?

If you're practice is looking to attract new patients, you may want to seriously consider buying an electronic medical record (EMR) system. Most consumers said EMR technology plays a role in their selection of a physician (according to a survey of 600 consumers and 100 physicians by Accenture, a consulting company).

With government incentives to standardize EMR, taking advantage of technological advances is one of the best business and clinical investments a practice can make.  Major benefits include but are not limited to:

Overhead Cost Reduction

• Reduced transcription costs
• Labor costs
• Reduced internal/external copying expenses
• Malpractice insurance costs
• Pharmacy costs

Revenue Enhancement

• Completeness of documentation
• Accuracy of coding
• Increase the number of services offered
• Increase the number of visits per day

Clinical Efficiency & Quality of Patient Care

Easily track pending orders for lab tests and diagnostic imaging with your EMR system. Keep track of those that are long overdue with messages that signal lost reports or patient noncompliance.  You can use your EMR system as an effective troubleshooting tool for your practice, targeting potential problems before they arise.

• Improved quality of charting and documentation legible, organized, and complete
• Built-in protocols and reminders including health maintenance
• Increase the number of services offered
• Enhanced protection and security in signing charts

Ease of Prescribing

Nearly every EMR software system incorporates an e-prescription function. E-prescribing means less time talking to pharmacists and answering questions about what you've written. Use the extra time however you please - spend more time with your patients, or more time with your family.
The e-prescription function allows for quick and efficient prescribing. Less time is spent on the phone talking to pharmacists, allocating more time for what matters most. 

Additional Benefits

Numerous companies offer incentives for the implementation of an EMR system. One example of many, Midwest Medical Insurance Company (MMIC) announced it will offer 2% to 5% a premium credit to any solo physician or physician group policyholder who implements and uses electronic medical records software with credit beginning January 1, 2008.

As an emerging movement in health insurance, Pay for Performance rewards providers for quality of healthcare services. Qualify for "Pay for Performance" bonuses by tracking the care you provide and the outcomes you achieve for various groups of patients.