Let's Peek Under The Hood

The Ones That Didn’t Make The Cut – Part 1

In this post I will examine some of the EHR programs I looked at but didn't choose. It’s difficult to get an idea of a program's capabilities in a one hour demo. That's why I've assembled a collection of videos and information below to help you get started with your own research. Then, if you are interested in a particular program, schedule a demo. If you like what you see after the demo, schedule a second demo. You might even consider a third demo for your top contenders. 


I’ll let you in on a discovery I made - almost all of the EHR’s out there do exactly the same thing. It’s just that some of them handle certain tasks better than others. The key is to find which tasks are important to you and find the EHR that accomplishes those tasks the easiest. It might not even be a charting task, it might be related to the billing side. No single EHR will have all the features you want. Decide which features you must have (deal-breakers) and which ones you can live without.

Here is a short breakdown of some of the EHR programs I investigated before making my final decision. I have included some links to videos that can help give you a quick “peak under the hood” but you won’t have a real feel for a program until you get behind the wheel for a test drive.

1. Acrendo –  I really like this program. I wanted so much to have this be my EHR. It has a great interface, user-friendly template creation, highly customizable options. Unfortunately, when I was ready to purchase it was not officially ONC-ATCB certified for meaningful use. The company told me it was expecting certification any day, but I had already delayed purchasing an EHR and did not want to wait any longer (it has since passed certification). The other big factor was the billing part of the program. It looked nice and had the best electronic superbill of any other program, but I was concerned that my billing person would have problems adapting to a radically different program. The last thing I needed was a pile-up of unbilled claims. One more thing concerned me – my online demo was conducted by the owner of the company (who also authored the program). This was fine, but I was worried that a company this “small” might not survive if and when a shake-up occurs in the EHR industry.  Granted, Acrendo has been around for quite a while and I may be totally off-base with this -  and it might just have been that everyone else was too busy to give me a demo - but somewhere in the back of my mind I think it entered into my decision making. I still think this is an excellent program with great potential and should be investigated by any Podiatrist looking for a reasonably-priced and full-featured EHR.  Here is a video showing the EHR in action.  This was done in November 2010 so I’m sure it’s been updated but this will give you an idea of the what it looks like:  

2. Allscripts MyWay – One of the big players in the EHR industry. My hospital was offering a price break to use this EHR. As with all EHR's that charge by the month, it's a bit on the costly side when you look at long-term. The EHR uses lots of clicking and nested items. Overall a very nice feature set and appealing layout and design. I wasn’t thrilled with some of the small cryptic icons, but I imagine it just takes time to get used to them and their functions. Integrated billing and adaptive learning are two very nice features. Drawbacks for me were web-based – I really wanted to keep my data in my office; and having to upload documents. Definitely a very nice EHR and worth checking out, it just didn’t seem to fit my workflow and didn’t quite feel right for me. It might be a good fit for you, that’s for you to decide.  Here is one of many videos that you can find one YouTube: 

3. Aprima – Basically the same as Allscripts MyWay.  The Aprima rep told me that Aprima was about 2 versions ahead of Allscripts MyWay.   You can view a demo below: 

4. Amazing Charts – In my opinion, this program gives the most bang for the buck. A very full-featured EHR at an unheard of $1995 price.  Nice use of the mouse right-click to access templates and fairly easy customization. The last time I checked, you could download a fully working version and try it out (you are only limited by how many patients you can add in the trial version). I gave this EHR software a test drive and I liked it. It “compartmentalizes” each section of your note which I wasn’t thrilled about, but many of the EHR’s work this way. My main reason for not choosing this was it did not have a seamless integration with a billing component (although I heard one was in the making). If this program does develop an integrated billing section, it might be a real winner in my book. You can watch a video of this EHR in action below:

5. eClinicalworks – Another big player and popular with some of the Primary care groups and hospitals around me.  This appears to have a very large installed base of users.  Even Costco is selling it. I wanted to try and like this program but for me the screens were just too busy. This also has some cryptic icons that probably take some time to get used to. I probably didn’t give this as much time as I should have, but it just didn’t feel right from the start, and for me, first impressions are important. The inkable forms feature looks nice and as with most EHR’s, you can use Dragon.  You can watch a video of eClinicalworks in use below:

6. eMD’s – A very full-featured complete EHR with integrated billing program. The website is quite informative with loads of screenshots, which is nice as a lot of these EHR vendors guard their screens like they were military secrets.  I didn’t give this EHR much of a chance and didn’t actually get a demo of it. It probably is worth taking a look at. 
Fortunately, one of my blog readers Dr. Marc Garfield has taken the time to contribute a very nice video showing him creating a progress note in e-MD's for a heel pain patient. As I've mentioned before, this blog will be a great benefit to our colleagues if we all contribute. If you have anything to add about any of the programs here (or others) please add a comment at the end of this post or contact me by email. If you need help in creating a video demo of your EHR let me know and I will help.  Although this video does not contain narration, you can get a pretty good idea of what it takes to create a progress note. The program appears to be very customizable. As with many of the EHR's reviewed on this site, there appears to be a lot of nested pop-up windows and quite a bit of clicking involved. One nice thing is that it puts all of those clickable answers into a nice readable format in the final note. I was impressed with e-MD's the first time I saw it. After watching this video, I continue to be impressed.

 For more information, check out the e-MD's web site here: eMD's Web Site
Here is another demo showing e-MD's in action:

7. Greenway PrimeSuite – Another entry in the SAAS or ASP model of EHR delivery. I didn’t get a chance to check this out and since I didn’t really want a web-based program, I didn’t bother with a demo.  It appears to be a very robust program and worth a demo.  There is a demo showing it in use here: Greenway PrimeSuite Demo Be sure to click on the far right of the title bar where it says ehr/pmdemo to view the program in action.


8. MDSuite – not to be confused with e-MD’s this is also a full-featured and robust EHR complete with integrated billing. If I remember correctly, it was a little pricey, but it might be worth it if you like it.  I was getting a little burned-out and by the time I had the online demo, it became a blur among all the other demos I had. I didn’t really give this much of a chance, but don’t let that stop you just because I didn’t pick it. It really does have nice features and I am sure performs more than adequately. You can check out their web site for more information at: http://www.mdsuite.com/  Here is a short demo below:

 

In my next post, I will cover a few more programs including SuiteMed IMS and TrakNet EHR.