With so many practices now converting to EMR and a big number of them utilizing ASP programs, it is crucial to understand some basics when it comes to your web infrastructure. By not understanding the basics, you risk spending thousands of dollars on an EMR product that will be ill equipped to perform at its optimum level. Lacking the necessary throughput or bandwidth, will not only slow your office down, but will also put your ASP and wireless applications at a greater risk of crashing.
Throughput and Bandwidth, What do they mean to me?

What do I mean by throughput? It is very easy. You can think back to physics and fluid flow or fluid dynamics as you may possibly recall. The way your net connection works is comparable in many techniques to the water hose on the side of your house. The difference is that now your home and all other houses on your block share the same underground supply line that has a 1″i.d. Imagine trying to water your yard at the same time your neighbor four houses down is filling up his swimming pool, hope you have a book because you are going to be there for a while.

This illustration is similar to your internet connection in a selection of ways. With Comcast’s cable and At&t’s DSL service, you have possibly been told that your speed will be up to X megabits per second (Mbps). Well, what does this mean to you? Glad that you asked, and the reality is that it doesn’t really mean anything. I do not want to get into the speed or Mbps as significantly as I want to explain that your maximum download speed, which is most typically advertised, does not mean much when talking about consistent upload and download speeds. When you are on the exact same line as your neighbor who streams videos and music all day, you can not expect to have a consistently fast net connection. When the guy next to you is converting to EMR, have you stopped to think about what that might do to your connection speeds? What about the fact that your phones are utilizing VOIP (which I love) technology and are also reliant on your net speed? Bottom line, without correctly thinking about the connectivity issue, you are going to be much less productive and frustrated with your IT environment.
Avoiding ASP Potholes

Most EMR solutions have excellent picture editing software and thousands of templates that if you are an ASP user, all are pulled from a central remote server. I love the ASP model for EMR/PM systems and prefer them over the much more conventional client server model. There are a variety of factors for my preference but the downside to an ASP application is in your reliance on the world wide web connection and data lines. This and off site security/backups are usually the biggest concerns when selecting an ASP EMR solution. The dilemma is that even though the software is excellent, you will be pulling out what little hair you have left when your photos are taking forever to load or worse your system freezes in the middle of seeing a patient.
How to stay away from the ASP lag?

1st off, stay away from when finances and circumstances will permit, the use of DSL and cable service providers. You can not count on a speed with these providers and in most cases they will not guarantee up time or a service interruption response time. Personally, I have used Cable services and DSL services in distinct offices and have experienced the exact same quality and service problems with each. You will notice advertisements from Comcast and other providers of download speeds from 6-12mbps(megabits per second) and you may possibly be asking yourself how that is not quicker than a single T1 line. The reason that they are increasing their speed is since of constant rise in videos being downloaded and watched on the web. The increased speed on the part of these providers goes back to my original explanation in the 1st paragraph. 12mbps sounds excellent until you and ten other folks are put on the exact same pipeline at which point you are using a connection that varies from .5mbps to 2mbps without any consistency. A far greater answer would be a dedicated T1 or maybe two T1s if you have a significant office. Personally, I utilize a network of T1 providers to see who can supply me with the connection then evaluating who can give me the finest price. I use a company out of Florida that launched a new website to allow you to swiftly check prices and availability. World wide web Service resellers are essentially the same, in that they are contracted with big data providers like Nuvox, and based upon volume, are able to supply their clients with a cheaper rate than going direct. They also have knowledgeable IT consultants that understand the requirements of distinct EMR programs and what will work very best for your office. A dedicated T1 line will be, in most cases, a lot quicker than the fastest cable connection and will always provide you with a consistent speed and a lot more reliability.

Regardless of what service you use, maintain your employees off of the internet and make it a huge deal if they are caught on it. Even better, and what I did for a recent client, is to disable the employee’s capacity to access the world wide web from their stations. I designated one pc as our web computer and it was not part of our internal network. If you only knew what you open your data up to by means of the internet, you would disable their access tomorrow. It amazes me to discover offices that have an internal server and allow their employees on the internet throughout lunch hours or on breaks. Checking email, the weather, or local news all open your network up to viruses and spyware. You also want to do pc check-ups that make positive there are not applications running behind the scene making use of up valuable bandwidth.

To realize much more about the diverse EMR applications accessible you should very first comprehend the differences between ASP and Client Server applications. Once you realize the differences, you can then comprehend what will work very best for your organization.

There is also some thing referred to as a Bi-Directional or Uni-Directional info interchange that occurs between the EMR program and the laboratories/pharmacies. This details exchange is similar to the EDI (electronic data interchange) that occurs with your clearing house and the insurers. This is something else that is frequently overlooked and is essential when considering the time spent by a practice on prescribing and processing lab results.