FAQs for Practice Suite office, practice management software
Whats the difference between an EMR and an EHR?
The change of just one letter can cause a shift in the understanding and the practical implications of certain terms. This is certainly the case with the easily confused terms EMR (electronic medical records) and EHR (electronic health records).
The primary difference can be summed up by noting that the term “health” is more comprehensive than the term “medical” and ends up covering a wider territory.
Electronic medical records, EMRs, are a digital version of the paper charts in the clinician’s office. Their contents pertain to the medical and treatment history of the patients of that practice. EMRs help physicians:
track data over time identify patients who are due for preventive screenings or checkups
monitor and improve overall quality of care within the practice.
It is important to note that the information keyed into EMRs doesn’t find an outlet from the area of practice. At times, the digital records need to be circulated to the people in the care team in an accessible format either through printouts or emails. In situations such as this, the EMR system proves a touch cumbersome.
Electronic health records, EHRs, on the other hand, take care of the above limitations. EHRs focus on the total health of the patient. They are the collection point of all the information from the provider’s office and at other care locations, thereby giving shape to an all-inclusive system. EHRs are designed to reach beyond the health organization that originally collects and compiles the information. They are built to share information with other health care providers, such as laboratories, support service providers and specialists. EHRs are a comprehensive storehouse of information from all the clinicians involved in the patient’s care.
The National Alliance for Health Information Technology stated that EHR data can be created, managed and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one healthcare organization. The information forms a chain connecting the patient, the specialist, the hospital, the nursing home, an institution in the next state or even across the country. EHR seeks to provide a secure channel for the efficient transmission of information at a large scale, thereby facilitating effective communication for smooth decision-making. In simple words, an EHR system is a multi-level channel of communication of patient information between the different stakeholders including the patient him/herself.
Comparing the differences between record types, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society stated that, “EHR represents the ability to easily share medical information among stakeholders and to have a patient’s information follow him or her through the various modalities of care engaged by that individual.” The difference between an EMR and an EHR is that of access versus parties concerned.
Shriram Parthasarathy
| Customer Service - What Does it Really Mean? |
If you've seen the credit card commercial where the customer is talking to "Peggy" - a man with a foreign accent in what appears to be the frozen tundra of a foreign land - you understand why "customer service" has become laughable in recent years. Is EHR any different? We would say YES. When it comes to EHR service, there is a lot more to it than just who you talk with when you have a question. Some important EHR service items to consider: - Are ENHANCEMENTS/UPGRADES included in your price? Are they automatic?
- WHEN can you call Support and speak with a LIVE person? And yes, are they located in the US?
- What do INTERFACES cost? When it comes time to connect with your state's HIE (Health Information Exchange) will there be an additional cost?
- Does Support include CUSTOMIZATION assistance? Are the Customization tools included in the EHR and are they easy to use? Yes, Yes , Yes.
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ARE YOU SPECIALTY SPECIFIC?
eMedical Systems Practice Suite product has been customized for over thirty specialties. It's Billing & Scheduling software that is used by almost every medical specialty. eMedical Systems is ideal for all licensed healthcare givers who bill Medicare or private insurance on the CMS 1500 Form. Some sales people will tell you we are designed just for a speciality. What we found to be of most value is billing expertise in that field that can maximize your revenue. When installing the software we will work with your billers and office staff to set it for you work flow and speciality.
How is practice management different From an EMR?
Many practices are more familiar with EMR’s (electronic medical records), which deal with the clinical aspects of charting a patient's treatment but that may also contain a billing system. EMR's are typically for the clinical side of the practice while eMedical Systems Practice Site billing is a scalable product that can grow as your office feels confortable with electronically automating different aspects of your practice from the business side all the way throughout the clinical side of the practice. I can run on an inhouse network system if the practice is large enough to warrent it, or it can run as a service. Billing systems do heavy duty work for next to nothing, are highly overlooked and under appreciated, but are the backbone of the office as they allow the practice to get paid.
We’ve found that many practices look at a full EMR and are overwhelmed at the idea of dropping $20,000 to $30,000 to overhall their compete practice. With the eMedical Systems Practice Suite solutions, we can intragrate the software to take on the parts of your practice that you feel can benifit from automating for cost effective management.
SERVER BASED or WEB BASED?
For and office that has inhouse IT personel, it makes sence to have the data in house. If you have multiple location you may want to consider a web based application. The advantage of web based is that it is hardware independent. If you have a MAC or PC it doesn't matter. The important thing to remember for a web based application you must have a fast and constant internet connection. eMedical Systems software will run fine on a server or it only requires reliable internet service of 1.5 MPS or greater. We can also be the billing service for you with scheduling, Charting and live access to your data at all times.
NET-WORKABLE?
With our software you may have as many connection and users as necessary to make your office function.
ELECTRONIC BILLING?
We have over 20 clearinghouses available and can send both paper & electronic billing and send to over 3000 insurances nation wide
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
17 years, today eMedical Systems provides exceptional U.S. based training and software support representing over thirty medical specialties.
WHAT DO I DO ABOUT MY EXISTING PATIENTS – DATA CONVERSION?
What do we do with our 6000 existing patients in our existing medical billing software system?
We offer experienced data-migration from over 300 source systems. It is best to consider the payroll cost and time of converting when deciding on conversion or starting from scratch and running dual systems for a time.
HOW MANY USERS & PROVIDERS CAN ACCESS THE SYSTEM?
A provider is licensed health professional (other than the referring physician) on the 1500 Form. Also it can be someone who renders health services that you want to track in the software for reporting purposes. A user is anyone who logs into the system.
As an example, a solo practice (a single physician) might need to be in the software multiple times due to multiple business entities, eg. A doctor has a personal tax-ID that he is billed under, but also has a corporate tax-ID that he’s billed under, and then he has a Group that he’s billed under separately. In this example, one single doctor would take up three “provider” slots in the software. Our pricing is based two fold. By volume and provider
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MAY I GET A CLIENT REFERENCE LIST?
Please contact us for our lengthy list of happy customers.
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HOW IS YOURS OFTWARE SUPPORT?
Next to the simplicity of the software, and the low price, our support may be the single strongest reason people buy our software. People love the software. They really love our support.
COST OF OWNERSHIP
How does eMedical Systems compare on 'cost of ownership'” over 2-3 years?
Our program will save you thousands over Medisoft, Lytec, or Medical-Manager in the first 2 years alone. This savings will be experienced in three categories:
: Low initial cost.
: Low annual updates.
: Shorter reimbursement cycles (faster payments with electronic billing).
: Better reporting (more control over aging receivables).
: All translating to more time spent with patients, and more money coming in the door.
eMEDICAL SYSTEMS is a bread and butter windows application. It’s just like QuickBooks, Quicken, or TurboTax but made for patient billing.
The program is so simple, that anyone who can use a computer can bill using our software. So savings is experienced in:
: Greatly reduced cost of training
: Complete training and support is included with the purchase of the software.
WHAT IS YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES?
Extremely user friendly. intuitive and easy to learn. Easy to train office staff.
Native to Windows. eMEDICAL SYSTEMS looks and feels like your web browser. It shares same shortcuts. It's fast. You can “tab through” entire program (or use a mouse) and have multiple windows open at once. ..Get anywhere in a single click.
Affordable! Other billing software is expensive compared to eMEDICAL SYSTEMS, which offers a complete multi-user electronic billing system starting under $5,000.
Quality Support. We are the makers of the software, and all our training and support is done in house by seasoned support staff who are each an experienced biller. They are highly skilled and are able to help you in every billing need, insuring you the highest quality support. eMedical Systems in offers wonderful training and support, and it's included in the cost of the program.
