Your EHR Doesn't Have To Be A Liability

Shed the status quo in favor of a customer-centric approach to healthcare IT

The upfront investment, development charges and personnel costs associated with traditional electronic health record (EHR) implementations make clear that getting to Stage 1 Meaningful Use is only the beginning of the investment. Additional enhancements required for Stage 2, changes in the regulatory environment, even minor code fixes  -  all will dramatically increase the overall cost of an already expensive proprietary EHR system. 

Indeed, for hospitals, the overall cost of a traditional health IT relationship includes millions of dollars in both lost opportunity costs--the product of multi-year implementations and lengthy delays--and simply exorbitant pricing that far exceeds federal reimbursement.

While most EHR systems enable hospital compliance with Stage 1 Meaningful Use, Stage 2 requirements are a whole new ball game. Stage 1 basically asked hospitals to implement a platform and capture data; Stage 2 will most likely require the use of that information to improve the quality of patient care. If hospitals pick an EHR platform that doesn't have Stage 2-ready features, the costs to upgrade are both exponential and unavoidable. Here's why...