AC Group, Inc. (ACG) has released their 14th Report on Practice Management, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) applications. Click here to view the table of contents.
This year’s report provides physicians, MSOs, IPAs, and PHOs with one of the most comprehensive evaluations to date of leading EMR/EHR applications. According to the author, Mark Anderson, Healthcare IT Futurist, “Individual Physicians and organizations such as DOQ-IT, state QIOs and IPAs are looking for a 3rd party independent evaluation of the various EMR/EHR offerings in the marketplace today. The current pressures in the industry for increased efficiency and better care delivery, coupled with significant advances in technology and applications, have enabled EMRs to take center stage. The challenge with EMRs is that it is very difficult for the average physician practice to effectively evaluate its options.”
The current pressures in the industry for increased efficiency and better care delivery, coupled with significant advances in technology and applications, have enabled EHRs to take center stage. The challenge with EHRs is that it is very difficult for the average physician practice to effectively evaluate its’ options. Physicians are looking for a 3rd party independent evaluation of the various EHR/EHR offerings in the marketplace today. To evaluate how well and completely each of these offerings meets the real needs of physicians, AC Group, Inc. conducted semi-annual evaluations in Spring of 2002-2009 and then again in October of 2003-09. The AC Group technology functionality report is based on 48 months of research and the cumulative results of a 90-page questionnaire distributed to each participating vendor. The EHR survey includes 2,300 functional questions divided into 47 categories, while the PMS survey includes over 1,000 functionality questions divided into 26 categories.
The 47 functional categories included a section on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) requirements for a computerized patient record (CPR), along with functional questions relating to operational areas including prescriptions, charge capture, dictation, interface with laboratories, physician order entry, decision support and alerts, security, personal health records, reporting and documentation. To assist the physician community, the AC Group report quantifies six specific components necessary to ensure that a physician or a group of physicians have made the right choice. The components include:
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Product Functionality – How well a product meets the basic requirements of a comprehensive EHR based on the guidelines of the Institute of Medicine and the detailed comprehensive survey of functionality based on AC Group’s 2,800+ EHR functionality survey.
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End-User Satisfaction – How well a company performs in relation to “End-User Satisfaction” surveys conducted by independent analyst firms such as AAFP such as KLAS (http://www.healthcomputing.com/) and AC Group, Inc. (www.acgroup.org)
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Company Financial Viability – The strength of a company in relationship to their annual revenues, profitability, and percentage of revenues that are placed back into future development.
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Client Base – The strength of the company’s EHR client base and their ability to understand and meet the needs of their current and future clients.
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Technology – The strength of the use of proven technology that enables a practice to become a digital office of the future.
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Price – The total price of the solution should be considered when making a decision – not just the price of the software. Practices should determine the “Total Cost of Ownership” (TCO) when evaluating the numerous potential solutions.
Through AC Group's research, we have learned that, while having the appropriate level of functionality is critical, providers require a vendor that will support and continue to develop the product. Therefore, the 2009 report employs a point system based on a combination of the following major sets of criteria: functionality, company size, client base, end-user satisfaction and price. This point system provides a more comprehensive view of the ability of the end-user to derive benefits from the product. Each set of criteria has been weighted, and each vendor was assigned a “Total Weighted Point Value”.
The report is over 360 pages long and includes over 120 pages on selecting the right PM and or EHR product for your practice.
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