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Ultimate Guide to EHR Resources

June 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

There is a nice compendium of resources on electronic health records recently posted on Nursing Online Education Database entitled The Ultimate Guide to Taking Control of Your Health Records by Alisa Miller. This includes not only sites and tools for consumers but also for medical practices.

If you don’t think do-it-yourself electronic health records is going to be big in the near future, take note that none other than Google and Microsoft are getting into the act. True, they currently offer free resources for consumers but already there are companies looking for ways to make a buck off of the EHR industry.

Medical practices in competitive niches may want to consider some type of portal, either as part of their EMR system or in conjunction with their website, in order to communicate more effectively with their patients. This could be anything from offering email communication with physicians to allowing patients to access their medical records, just like Google.

Buying Network Hardware

June 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Shopping for network hardware can be like shopping for a used car in a foreign country. There a lot of decisions to be made and one of the toughest is choosing a brand. The natural instinct is to shop for the lowest price, and although price is a very important factor, others play a big role in the decision making process. computer-in-cart

Choosing a Hardware Vendor
Most large vendors negotiate pricing based not only on what you are immediately purchasing but also what you anticipate purchasing in the future, so it’s important to communicate your long term order goals. Often, you can achieve better pricing on a purchase today if your vendor can count on your purchase tomorrow as well.

Repair service and warranty options are critical with network hardware. Make sure you understand
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Choosing a Phone System for Your Practice, Part 1

June 14, 2008 By

When I first joined our group about 11 years ago (jeez, it’s been almost 12 years!) can-phone.jpgwe had some 80 or so employees and a big collection of PC computers connected in a patchwork of a network – not exactly state-of-the-art. Our phone system, however, was relatively sophisticated – or so we thought. A multi-line phone system with several custom features and a message-on-hold device. What we didn’t realize until much later was that we were paying for each and every line coming into the building as well as for each and every custom feature on each and every one of those individual phone lines.

Another drawback to this type of system is that the staff needs to keep track of multiple phone numbers – this can get chaotic when you start adding multiple locations. If you needed to get hold of a particular doctor, for example, first you would need to find out where he or she is [Read more...]

The Assault on the Medical Profession

June 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment

It used to be that two cereal-box tops The Assault on the Medical Professionand a quarter would get you a Flash Gordon secret decoder ring. Nowadays, the same will get you the word “Doctor” in front of your name. It reminds me of a scene from an old sitcom called Fernwood Tonight in which a man is having a heart attack and everyone yells for a doctor. When the “Doctor” comes running out from the audience, he has no idea what to do. It’s because, he says, he is a botanist.

I have always said that if somebody puts the word “Doctor” before his or her name on a sign or business card, it indicates that this person is not a medical doctor (or as one of my partners puts it, not an R.D. or Real Doctor). Conversely, when I first came to town, my medical colleagues [Read more...]