Executive Summary

The $1.7 trillion healthcare industry has been slow to adopt technology capable of streamlining the medical records process. Though hospitals and HMOs have spent billions of dollars upgrading and consolidating backend systems, the front end interface between physicians, patients and support staff is still largely paper based.

Paper based workflow processes are a source of inefficiency in the medical office that contribute to the overburdened state of clinical staff and introduce potential sources of inaccuracy and error. Medical offices could potentially reduce costs and increase staff availability for additional patient interaction with the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) systems.

Appropriate use of existing technology can alleviate some of the burden on medical staff, allowing focus to return to patient needs. Moving to digital records management can provide staff with immediate access to charts, history and current treatment. Information updates can quickly replicate to a central repository which can be seen by all those connected to the system. Digitized prescriptions can be sent immediately from a physicians handheld PC to a dispensing pharmacy. Medical information systems can reduce errors and improve input accuracy. Databases that can analyze complex drug interactions may reduce the estimated 7,000 deaths each year caused by medication errors[1].

A cost benefit analysis was performed analyzing impacts per physician in a small office setting. Over a five year period, the total costs to implement EMR would be $112,500 and the anticipated benefit would be $186,390. The present value of these numbers is $109,159 and $157,770 respectively. The ROI over the five year period is 45%. The break even point would be reached in year four.

We cautiously recommend moving towards implementing the technology for a small practice. We suggest the office first take some time to prepare for the implementation and then take a modular approach in implementing EMR. Small steps spread over time will ease users into the changes in work flow process.

[1] Wilson, 2005