Back to Blogs

January 1, 2015

Four Benefits to Adopting an EHR with Cloud Technology

Home > Blogs > Electronic Health Records

Four Benefits to Adopting an EHR with Cloud Technology

After three year of Meaningful Use Stage 1, knowing what type of electronic health records (EHR) system still baffles physicians. The question of cloud technology always arises when considering to transition another EHR or even to purchase a new EHR system. Physician no longer need to be burdened with the intensive capital expense that impacts their practice. A SAAS (Software-As-A-Service) EHR stores medical data, commonly referred to as the Cloud, can retrieve data from any device any location. An EHR with Cloud Technology can drastically reduce the practice’s operational costs and provide four benefits:

Minimal Capital Expense with Cloud: Many small physician practices already have tight budgets. An EHR that runs on a Cloud platform does not require large upfront fees while a server based system requires larger up-front cost in server and IT support. With a Cloud system, the physician practice is not required to purchase new hardware to deploy a SAAS EHR – depending on the customizations requested during an implementation, most cloud- EHRs can be up and running within an hour. Data storage is the other advantage in capitalizing on reduced costs – the cloud provides unlimited data storage.

Maintenance Free with Cloud: A Cloud-computing system takes the worries out of knowing when to upgrade, back up data, or perform disaster recovery exercises. Integration with other devices and systems are performed with greater ease. There are no down times with Cloud technology, since the redundancy systems are already in place for you. With a Cloud technology system, it eliminates the need for an IT department and lets the physician focus on what they do best – patient care. A Cloud system takes a lot of the headache and worry away from single practitioners.

HIPAA Security and Cloud: In a SAAS EHR, the data remains secure in the event of computer failure or severe weather conditions. Systems themselves, especially cloud-based systems, have a good track record in regards to security. HIPAA violations don’t happen in the cloud – the violations happen in the physician’s office, coffee shops, cars, subways and homes. Cloud-based system has no physical files to compromise – common security risks are eliminated. No matter what EHR you are on, it’s critical that your practice is trained on ensuring patient privacy through necessary security measures.

Greater Flexibility and Customizations with Cloud: A SAAS EHR provides the capability for greater flexibility and customizations. The customizations can combine the right mix of functionality based on practice clinical workflows. The intuitive ease of use and affordability enables rapid and complete documentation with minimum cost or disruption to a practice. The practice is provided greater management capabilities, which improve revenue cycle management and operational transparency.

In the current healthcare environment, a physician practice needs to be operating at optimum performance to remain viable and competitive. Your practice can now become your best assess with a SAAS EHR. High costs, low productivity, and security risks no longer need to be a barrier for small practices. To maximize value and optimization for your practice, a Cloud-based integrated EHR can provide you positive options when other alternatives are risky and not as simple.