Medical Records Software Comparison Electronic Medical Records

Medical Records Software Comparison

Electronic Medical Records Software Comparative Analysis

There are over 75 different vendors of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software applications currently providing solutions to healthcare facilities in the U.S. alone as of 2011 (Ulutas, Ulutas, Nabiyev, 2011). The key design criteria for EMR systems is security (Neupert, Mundie, 2009), usability (James, Garrett, Krevit, 2009) and the ability to be integrated with legacy systems (Agarwal, Milch, Van Kuiken, 2009). This comparison includes AllScripts, ChartLogic and eClinicalWorks, three of the leading EMR software application providers offering software suites today.

Comparative Analysis of EMR Software Applications

All three applications are first compared in terms of how these companies are delivering them, whether it is through licensed software or over the Internet via the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Each of these applications also supports databases, requires an operating system, and has varying degrees of functionality and performance. All are HIPAA complaint, which is a major requirement of the U.S. government for all reporting systems (Ulutas, Ulutas, Nabiyev, 2011). The minimum hardware requirements, pricing, costs, and storage requirements are all included as well.

AllScripts, ChartLogic and eClinicalWorks are all delivered on licensed software models. Clinics, hospitals and treatment centers can install each of these applications on their servers, and also precisely configure them to their unique needs. Of these three, only ChartLogic also has a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) option that allows for clinics., hospitals and treatment centers to subscribe to the software application like a person subscribers to a telephone or cable service. Charges are billed monthly and the application is delivered over the Internet via any browser. This approach to software distribution has the advantage of providing applications that are highly configurable over the Internet, easily customized and accessible, and cost-effective as only the portion of the application used generates a monthly fee (James, Garrett, Krevit, 2009). The disadvantage of this approach is the security and compliance to HIPAA standards, which can become expensive over time (Agarwal, Milch, Van Kuiken, 2009). As a result, SaaS-based EMR records management systems online can often be more expensive to lease and configure compared to their licensed counterparts. Each of the applications compared also support Microsoft SQL Server integration, medical labs integration across thirteen different standards, and all three also require the Windows NT Server or XP Server operating systems. All also require an Intel-based system with a minimum of 2GB of storage and 4GB memory and a TCP/IP network interface card included.

All three applications vary significantly on the use of role-based analytics, ease of customization with templates, integrated practice management and integrated document management. Of the three, ChartLogic includes the most comprehensive integrated practice management module as it has integration back to many of the financial accounting applications commonly used in clinics, hospitals, and treatment centers. The depth of integrated document management in eClinicalWorks and it supports for workflow design and updating is superior to the other applications in this comparison. The use of business process management (BPM) functionality is also evident in the eClinicalWorks application, including support for an extensive catalog of forms and structured query screens that make medical records management and updating more streamlined compared to the other applications in this comparison.