Healthcare information technology has advanced very quickly in the past decade. The question will usually not be whether a practice will adopt an electronic medical records software system, but whether that system will be housed on their servers or be web-based. While some physicians might be skeptical of a third-party's ability to safeguard patient data in a web-based system, many early challenges have been overcome and more practices are choosing to offload the burden of server maintenance and data backup to web-based systems.
Some web-based systems have all of the software and data hosted and managed at a central data center maintained by the software vendor. The medical practice simply uses the system through their web browser and a broadband internet connection. Other web-based systems allow users to access the system through a web browser, but the server that hosts the system is housed and maintained by the medical practice.
There are a host of advantages to a web-based
electronic medical records software system, and it undoubtedly will become the wave of the future technologically.
Advantages include:
• Limited IT responsibilities: No need to buy server hardware. Data is secured and monitored at a centralized location. Medical practice doesn't have to worry about routine backups, upgrades, modifications, installations or maintenance.
• Easy to use: User interface is a web page similar to other commonly used websites on the internet.
• Remote access: Users can access the electronic medical records software from outside the office and from any computer with internet access. Physicians especially like being able to access records while doing rounds at the hospital, or from home if calling patients in the evening.
• Affordable subscription fees: Monthly subscription fees mean that upfront costs are low and practices can implement a system very quickly. Expenses become an operational expense and not a capital expense.
