Guide to Medical Software

Simplify with hosted medical software

When you use hosted (also known as Web based) medical practice software, the health care software applications and your data reside on the software vendor's computer system. That means you can view and add data to your records via the Internet. Also, you don't have to worry about time-consuming responsibilities such as data backup, software maintenance and upgrades because those responsibilities are handled by the vendor. Another plus: Hosted medical software usually costs less than health care software that is installed on your own computer system.

I recommend: Multi-purpose, hosted physician software solutions such as those offered by Waiting Room Solutions and AdvancedMD, include online EHR charts that you can customize to suit your practice, as well as patient scheduling and registration, billing and revenue management capabilities. Need a second opinion on which hosted EHR system is best for you? EHR Consultant can help.

Desktop medical software options

If you prefer to keep your medical practice software applications and records in-house, look for health care software that you can install on our own computers.

I recommend: EMR4doctors is a physician software program that offers customizable charts, billing, scheduling and the ability to scan hard-copy documents into your system. An optional feature lets physicians hand-write scripts and their signature and fax them to a pharmacy from a PDA or Tablet PC. Purkinje provides health care software for a range of functions including practice management, EHR and electronic prescribing.

Do-it-yourself medical software for patients

Streamline appointment scheduling and patient-history with medical practice software that lets patients take the lead.

I recommend: With physician software, patients can schedule an appointment via your web site by clicking on a link to AppointmentQuest. That takes them directly to your own appointment page which resides on the AppointmentQuest web site. With more patients using computers on a regular basis, most are happy to enter their own medical history into a computer. Medical Net Systems  provides easy-to-understand questionnaires that cover patient history and the history of their current illness. You can later edit the information if you learn more during the exam. Instant Medical History Online from medical practice software provider Primetime Software,  includes an optional questionnaire in Spanish with the option of having the answers instantly translated to English.