Can a Solo or Small Practice Manage the Transition to SAAS EMR Today?

By Sheldon Needle

The big news in EMR Software as a Service right now (June 2010) is the Dell/Practice Fusion offering of  “cloud-based” free EMR software from Practice Fusion when you buy it bundled with Dell hardware to support it.  This would allow small practices that would not think of making the large initial investment in a traditional EMR or even a medium-price SAAS EMR to contemplate the great leap from paper-based offices to an EMR.

What’s more, Practice Fusion claims that its EMR  software will be certified by the right organizations and available to all medical practices that want to qualify for 2011 HITECH payments.

This means that if a medical practice is willing to jump in and make the transition to an EMR, the ramp up time will be shorter  and the money investment  much smaller than it would be using more traditional EMR systems.

Practice Fusion has a set of suggested Dell hardware support requirements for a solo practice, smaller practice, and medium small practice.  This is an extremely interesting development for a small practice, and will certainly not come free, but will still be reasonable. And since the software and hardware suppliers will be working in tandem, a practice ordering this package will probably get good guidance on their hardware purchases.
This medical software/hardware bundling will certainly be the first among many such offerings from other suppliers.   It will offer a small practice the opportunity to get its feet wet in the world of EMR with decent hardware and technical support promised from the vendors.

Of course, the cloud-based free software will not be as customized and tailored as “bespoke” EMR built for a proprietary server.  But since cloud based computing is becoming such a popular, if not dominant way to go in the industry, a potential user can be confident that cloud-based software, and its ingenious promoters, will find ways to become more customized as time goes on and as competition for this very large market segment, small to medium sized practices, becomes stiffer.
What about CCHIT certification and “meaningful use?” Must every small practice worry about that?

If your practice is small enough that you would not otherwise consider purchasing or leasing an EMR, or if your only other option is to install open-source software, a bundled offering like this one is probably a good bet and an excellent risk: both the hardware and software manufacturers want this bundled offering to succeed, and they are promising good technical support.
Watch for competing offers from other companies.

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