As adoption of EMR begins to increase, there are requests that come from medical practices. Many are asking for an explanation between three different EMR support requests to satisfy EMR customization, EMR enhancements and EMR upgrades.
To customize your EMR is to tailor certain workflow templates within the specialty. Often medical doctors reiterate their bed side manor when deciding on an EMR to fit their needs. Two doctors of the same medical specialty will often treat patients of similar diagnosis with a unique approach. An EMR with a specialty approach is often “Hard Coded” and unable to be customized to fit that particular doctor’s request. A medical specialty EMR, of course, should have all the important features plus specialty features while being flexible to fit within the needs of the physician. The request of the doctor, in this case, is customization. This is where the EMR and the doctor are brought together with the settings of the workflow and templates to work through the patient encounter.
EMR enhancement is larger than the particular practice and goes throughout the entire program. To request a program enhancement is to change the code of the EMR structure – not the individual workflow. The enhancement is designed to assist the EMR Program as a whole, and it needs to meet the needs of all the clients using the program. Most often an enhancement comes as changes in regulations and requirements from the US Government, such as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) guidelines for compliance. ICD -10 is an enhancement that will be ready by the October 2013 when the coding requirements change.
An EMR upgrade is a schedule occurrence for the program. This is what keeps your EMR fluid (a term used to define the programs progression). There are many times when an upgrade is done, but the user interface may not be changed. The upgrade may be a way to increase delivery of patient information speed or operations within the software code. Upgrades should take place regularly throughout the year as the EMR market is constantly in flux. Upgrades are typically good, as they demonstrate progression of the program.
“EMR support is where companies must begin to place a priority. As the EMR applications get more mature, the new customers coming on must feel they are supported by the EMR vendor in their day-to-day EMR documentation. Bizmatics is committed to Support PrognoCIS customer needs,” says Chris Ferguson, Exec. VP of Sales.
