Practice Fusion Gives the Top 10 Pros & Cons of EHRs

Trying to calculating your return on investment when switching from an in-house EHR to a new cloud-based EHR? In addition to the initial cost savings compared to purchasing and maintaining a local server-based system, cloud-based EHRs like Practice Fusion’s also include many hidden benefits that can be overlooked when assessing the impact of switching. Here are the top 7 benefits compared to server-based systems:

Cloud-based EHR	Local, server-based EHR
- Most cost effective for solo and small practices.	- Most expensive solution for private practice, often a solution for hospitals.
- All data is kept in a secure private cloud – the data hosting, backup, security and up-time availability are all in the background.	- Data is stored in the physician’s office making it liable to local disasters like power outages, hardware issues, flooding and system crashes.
- Easily recover your files if your office experiences a disaster such as a fire or flood. Your files are secure in the cloud and accessible wherever you have an internet connection.* *Specific to country limitations	- Working disaster recovery plan is burdened on the physician and often other technical resources.
- Reduces costs by eliminating the need to have separate servers, backup systems, installation of application updates, and significantly reduces the need for IT support.	- Requires a large investment into IT infrastructure and support.
- Updates are released automatically during off hours and requires no patient downtime.	- Requires you to shut down practice or not see patients when installing new modules or upgrades.
- Live in minutes and quickly connect to e-prescribing, labs, diagnostic centers and more.	- Extensive install and implementation commitment that can be time consuming and expensive.
- Easy access to clinical support tools that providers can use to support decision making.	- Tools require local installations, system upgrades, and maintenance.