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Pain of Software Change

Breaking Up with Your EHR is Painful


The pain of software change seems almost palpable when you consider all of the time, effort, and money that will need to be invested to reap success. Your office will need to undergo training from new software experts. Patient data will need to be migrated to your new system. New contracts will have to be drawn up, combed through, and adjusted.

The individuals in charge of leading this task will have a lot of questions that need to be answered by both your staff and the new vendor… and they’ll continue to tumble through.

Do you have a headache yet, just thinking about an EHR breakup?

Challenges of an EHR Switch

Medical Economics states that nearly 60% of physicians utilizing an Ambulatory EHR system have expressed dissatisfaction or neutral feelings towards their current system. These providers have stated they wouldn’t recommend the system to a colleague. Now, out of all of the physicians who are stating they are not happy with their current platform, only 15% are considering an EHR switch.

Why is this? This is because changing an EHR vendor disrupts your whole office workflow. Sometimes it’s easier to stay with the evil you know, than the evil you don’t.

Out of those surveyed through Medical Economics regarding their “EHR’s Report Card” in 2017, 43% of individuals stated they wouldn’t recommend their current EHR. 59% of those respondents put the blame on the vendor’s lack of concern of the practice’s time for resolving problems.

It is no wonder that practice administrators who may be feeling under-valued by their current vendor may be reluctant to move onto the next.

Q: What are the main reasons your practice switched EHRs in the past?

Understanding When to Change EHR Vendors

When push comes to shove, it is time to move on and start the search for the next EHR solution. The challenge here can be recognizing when it is time to move on. The following are reasons to begin evaluating a new EHR software vendor…

Interoperability Initiatives

CMS reporting/attestation standards

Configuration needs

Expanding practice (size or specialty)

Budget restrictions

Overall dissatisfaction (that can’t be resolved)

This is not an extensive list, and many factors contribute to an organization, like yours, deciding to jump ship from their current vendor. If any of the above reasons for a change have been brought up, then it’s time to buckle down, perform research, and create a plan.

Texas Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Care


An orthopedic care group located in the Northern Houston area since 1975 decided to make an EHR switch. This institution had nine physicians, two locations, and an in-house surgical center that they needed to account for throughout this transition.

The group hired in a new CEO that immediately decided it was time to buckle down and make changes. The organization’s current system was expensive and did not meet the needs of the practice. He soon realized that they were even operating on an outdated, server-based system that was at least three versions behind. At the time, the EHR vendor was not even ICD-10 compliant and the practice was unable to attest or collect data for MIPS reporting. They were utilizing an EHR without receiving any automation benefits it promised, while receiving an abundance of penalties due to its shortcomings. The organization simply could not continue to operate using this outdated system, and their IT personnel did not have the time or resources to make updates to the system.

After finding all of these issues with the current EHR system, the new CEO knew it was time to find a new vendor. The organization decided on a new specialty specific cloud-based EHR system. This allowed them to eliminate the need for additional IT resources, and server maintenance. The orthopaedic group is now able to attest for MIPS and is utilizing ICD-10 compliant coding for billing.

In order to make this switch successful, the CEO pinpointed all of the elements on their current EHR system that needed improvement moving forward. From there, they found a solution that checked all of the boxes and were able to successfully move forward.

When your organization has made the commitment to make an EHR software change, you can see success if the right steps are taken.

Breaking Up with Your EHR

Sometimes, it is time to leave… even when it comes to the EHR software your practice utilizes. Now, knowing it is time to leave your current vendor is only step one of the process – you also have to know how to leave with the least amount of disruption to your practice. This involves creating a calculated implementation plan to make sure your practice doesn’t feel the weight of the “break-up.” This implementation plan should include the following…

  1. Build your EHR implementation plan
  2. Establish an implementation committee
  3. Define a budget and forecast implementation costs
  4. Migrate patient data and practice information to new system
  5. Create a training program
  6. Define & Schedule go-live
  7. Establish success factors for later evaluation

Now, before this plan can go into effect and bring forth any benefit to your practice, you need to find a vendor that checks off the boxes on your list. Here are some things to consider…

  • Cloud vs. In-house Server
  • MIPS Reporting Requirements
  • Data Migration & Interfacing
  • Interoperability
  • More…

There are many things to consider before breaking up with your EHR and moving onto the next, but success is within your organization’s reach.

Switching to MicroMD PM & EMR

With MicroMD, we try to make the pain of breaking up with your EHR vendor as minimal as possible. We offer free training and data migration to check one more item off of your wish list. Our software also allows your practice to configure dashboards, create reports, and enhance your solution with add-on services to better serve your staff and your patients.

MicroMD is…

  • 2015 Edition Certified to help you reach MIPS reporting requirements.
  • Available for cloud or in-house server based used to fit your office’s needs.
  • Configurable to your practice’s needs.
  • Able to support the HL7 interface standard to help your practice connect with various labs and other organizations.

Are you ready to ready to learn more about MicroMD and how we minimize the pain of an EHR break up?

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