You will see the return on investment almost immediately. Many mundane tasks become quick and easy which allows your staff to become more efficient and effective.
You can make a crude estimate of your potential savings from the use of an EMR by counting the number of charts that are pulled and re-filed each week. If, like most practitioners, your staff is pulling 500 charts per healthcare provider per week, and it takes, on average, 2.5 minutes to find a chart and 1.5 minute to re-file a chart, then your staff is spending at least 33 hours per week to pull and re-file charts. Assuming you are paying your staff $12.50/hour, then the use of an EMR is likely to save you at least $21,000/year/healthcare provider. These cost savings do not include the saving that will occur as a result of a reduction in employment taxes and employee "benefits." This calculation also excludes many other financial benefits that result for using an EMR (details available.)
Although the combined cost of purchasing the software and hardware for a comprehensive EMR system is high, 1999 Congressional testimony demonstrated that the use of an EMR will save $40,250/year per healthcare provider. Thus, your investment into an EMR will likely be recouped within 1-2 years of installation. Physicians who choose to continue using a paper medical records are likely incurring unnecessary office expenses in the range of $25,000 to $40,000/year per healthcare provider
Further, photocopying and faxing of the chart is reduced to the click of a button for easy processing and forwarding of consult notes or charts. Secretarial time, photocopying equipment, and postage are eliminated. More difficult to quantify but not insignificant, an electronic medical record chart is never misplaced therefore staff time is never spent looking for a lost chart. A small physician office will save about one full time employee per physician by choosing to use the MDCare+ EMR over the traditional paper chart system. This will clearly provide a prompt return on investment in hardware and software while reducing long-term expenses.
Your practice will realize improvements in every phase as a result of utilizing one of the most comprehensive Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems available.
Although each practice/clinic will see different results, the average ROI in a quality, properly implemented and utilized EMR system is about 12-24 months. The major focus of any EMR should be the providing of better and more complete patient care. The following are some of the most visible benefits you will receive by installing.
MDCare EMR in your practice or clinic. The percentages may vary, but you can expect significant improvement in all these areas:
Our system allows secured HIPAA compliant access to your patient charts from anywhere in the world where you have access to the Internet. There is no other system that allows you and your partners to access patient information as easily or securely. Eliminates risk of misplaced records or test results and improves the continuity of care for patients that are seen by multiple physicians from the same practice or clinic.
Turnaround time for patient phone calls will increase dramatically, as there is no longer a delay in locating and pulling the chart. All the information is at your staff’s fingertips.
For physicians who dictate their charts, no longer there will be a lag time for chart completion.