Taking your office paperless...What can possibly stop you?

I'm going to use this first post the address the fears many firm owners have on going paperless.

President Obama has been promoting EMR (electronic medical records) since he first started campaigning yet it hasn't picked up so fast. Perhaps we should take a look at the worries that stop people doing so in the medical office....

1. "I've been using these brown file folders for years and got so comfortable with it. Why go through all the trauma?"

2. "It is too expensive - the additional hardware and software will cost me more than the amount of supplies I use on an yearly basis."

4. "What if the computer crashes? All the medical records are unable to be retrieved."

5. "What about the confidentiality of my patients/clients? Computers are prone to security hacks."

6. "Learning a new system will decrease productivity and essentially waste our money."

Let's take a look at the concerns once again and see why they are not as daunting as they sound:

1. "I've been using these brown file folders for years and got so comfortable with it. Why go through all the trauma?"

• While the paper chart may have been used for so long that it's a comfort that's hard to let go of, studies show that 30 percent of the time, there is difficulty in finding patients’ charts. Once the chart is found – finding the information within the chart can also prove challenging.

2. "It is too expensive - the additional hardware and software will cost me more than the amount of supplies I use on an yearly basis."

• While quantifying the Return on Investment (ROI) can be difficult – an average office spends almost $16,000 every year (cost of time and supplies) on maintaining paper documents in their office while the first year cost for an EMR system costs about $3,000. Do the math – by 3 months you’re EMR system is paid for

4. "What if the computer crashes? All the medical records are unable to be retrieved."

• This is why a remote data backup system is a criticial part of the solution. This way, are safe & secure yet automatically updated upon changes.

5. "What about the confidentiality of my patients/clients? Computers are prone to security hacks."

• There are many security solutions out there to keep your computer systems safe from outside parties' access. Again, this must be a critical part of your EMR system.

6. "Learning a new system will decrease productivity and essentially waste our money."

• The goal of the electronic medical record is to improve efficiency. While it may be slow for the first little while, eventually it will improve efficiency – saving your practice thousands every year.