All three systems typically require a practice to install the EHR software onto on-site servers, although they all appear to require only standard "off-the-shelf" hardware, and all of them also offer Application Service Provider (ASP) access as an option. (McKesson, 2010, General Electric Corporation, 2010, Sage 2010). Because all three systems are applications that reside on the practice's hardware, back-up of the server data seems to fall on the shoulders of the practice itself to manage this process (Compliant Backup, 2010).

Among special additional features, Practice Partner offers "BrightNote" technology allowing physicians to dictate patient information, which then populates discrete data in different parts of the patient's chart automatically (McKesson, 2010). GE Centricity offers a Medical Quality Improvement Consortium that allows a practice to consolidate and benchmark quality of care measures (General Electric Corporation, 2010). Sage Intergy includes a set of online "marketing" tools that allow a practice to send newsletters and other information to its patients. (Sage, 2010).

With so many different systems on the market today -- more than 200 (Adler, 2005) -- many of which are relatively comparable in quality and functionality, each practice needs to evaluate which product best suits its technical environment, workflow, and clinical needs.

References

Adler, K.G. (2005). How to Select an Electronic Health Record System. Family Practice Management, 12 (2). Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2005/0200/p55.html

Compliant Backup...

Centricity Backup: Are You Backing Up Your Centricity Data? Retrieved April 7, 2010 from the Compliant Backup website http://centricitypractice.gehealthcare.com/public/requirements.htm
Garets, D. & Davis, M. (2006). Electronic Medical Records vs. Electronic Health Records: Yes, There Is a Difference, A HIMSS AnalyticsTM White Paper. Retrieved from the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) website http://www.himssanalytics.org/docs/wp_emr_ehr.pdf

General Electric Company (2010). GE Centricity. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from the GE Healthcare website https://www2.gehealthcare.com/portal/site/usen/menuitem.e8b305b80b84c1b4d6354a1074c84130/?vgnextoid=5bb454fbded30210VgnVCM10000024dd1403RCRD&productid=4bb454fbded30210VgnVCM10000024dd1403

HIMMS (2010). EHR Electronic Health Record. Retrieved April 6, 2010 from the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) website http://www.himss.org/ASP/topics_ehr.asp

McKesson (2008, June 30). McKesson's Practice Partner Software Receives Top Ratings in Recent EHR & Practice Management Study for 5th Consecutive Year. Retrieved from McKesson Corporation website http://www.practicepartner.com/news/06302008.htm

McKesson (2010). Practice Partner. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from the McKesson Corporation website http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/McKesson.com/For%2BHealthcare%2BProviders/Physician%2BPractices/For%2BIndependent%2BPractices/Practice%2BPartner.html

GE Centricity (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centricity