EMR Requirements Vary Depending on the Physician Office
What do you want your EMR to do? Everything!
What are your requirements for an EMR? Every practice has a different established workflow and setup for how the office flows. While you will probably need to make some changes to the workflow after implementing an EMR, you’ll probably want to choose one that is relatively set for accepting the way your office already runs. How do you want your EMR to check in/check out patients? Do you want it to have a screen showing available exam rooms, and who is in each room? Do you want it to function similar to an ER “board” showing all the patients and their chief complaint?
Why do you want an EMR? What do you hope it will improve in your practice? Are there particular types of needs that must be available to your practice? Do you require plotting of growth curves for pediatric patients, ability to view obstetric panels at a glance? What specifically are you looking for in your EMR that will save you time and money?
If you do many procedures in the office (biopsy, colonoscopy, treadmill tests, etc…) you’ll want to be sure these can be easily and properly documented to contain all the pertinent information, and in a way that is conducive to your practice style. If you currently dictate your procedure notes, you probably have a specific format you are already using for this, and would want to adapt any EMR you consider into this structure. Make sure your potential EMR fits into this.
If you are a photo-heavy practice needing pictures of dermatologic conditions, or ophthalmologic diseases, you’ll want to be sure your EMR candidate has a strong document/file system for storing and categorizing everything correctly.
Do you need your EMR to be able to fax the pharmacy for you? How does your potential EMR accomplish this? Is this a main feature of your EMR? How will it handle the day to day operations of your practice?