Medical Records Institute Compares Products
The Medical Records Institute unveiled a new service on their site which compares existing electronic medical/health records. The announcement was detailed on HealthImaging.
This effort is designed to improve the level of transparency available for organizations, physicians, and consumers considering electronic records systems. Included in the organization’s assessment of features are comparison of features that detail functionality, usability, and cost. The group also details whether or not the product has received approval from the CCHIT, an organization that certifies EMR products that has been described on Hospital Buyer.
In using the site, searches can be completed using either the size of a medical practice or the name of the company that developed the software. The site supports side-by-side comparison of different products to consider functions offered and the cost of the system, which is displayed in a spreadsheet format. The cost information is broken down into a variety of categories, such as training costs, licensing, hardware for implementation, and recurring costs among other price considerations.
The site also provides a simulation of the software as used during a standard patient encounter. The demonstrations are an adaption of the demonstrations that have been used in the past by the company at TEPR Conferences.
At this point in time, 14 companies have enrolled their EMR products to be included in the organization’s comparison. Those include the following: ABELSoft, Amazing Charts, Bone Technologies, e-MDs, Health Communication Systems, iMedica, iSALUS Healthcare, MediNotes, Mednet System, Noteworthy Medical Systems, Pulse Systems, Sage Software, SSIMED, and Waiting Room Solutions.
The MRInstitute hopes to expand the list of participating organization by 30 to 50 before the end of 2007. The organization also plans to expand the search capabilities to include additional search features.
The organization serves as a collaborative that is intended to support the integration of electronic medical records and other information technology solutions into healthcare practice. The organization is particularly interested in providing support to healthcare professionals.
August 30, 2007 Related topics: Finance, Partnerships & Consortia, IT & software, Cost savings