ERP Software

Medical ERP Software is ripe for now

Everyone is quite aware of the health care debate taking place in America today. t has been controversial and divisive. Reform has not dealt effectively with health care costs, yet there is some movement on the technological front which could have some effect on costs. This has to do with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which President Obama signed into law in February of 2009. This legislation includes a high tech component called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or HITECH. This is the vehicle that will pay out $19 billion in stimulus funds to physicians and health care professionals who demonstrate “Meaningful Use” of an Electronic Health Records system. Think medical ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning) software.

The Act will give doctors, nurses, and physician’s assistants who serve Medicare patients $44,000 each, over three years, if the medical practice implements an electronic health records system; those who provide health care services to Medicaid patients can get up $65,000 each. This translates into $132,000 for a medical practice with three eligible health care providers, over three years. The United States is way behind other developed countries which have deployed electronic medical records systems. They are currently in use in a number of European countries, such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.

It is simply time for us to move into the digital age as it relates to electronic health records. It has always been a question of cost for health care providers, but even that burden is being lightened substantially with a free EHR system from Practice Fusion (practicefusion.com). It’s already the third largest system in use in the U.S. So, there are options, but it is up to medical providers to take advantage of them. They can do that with medical ERP software.

Going forward with health care reform involves reducing costs and administering more medical services efficiently. We must also keep in mind that since doctors don’t write so well and are often held responsible for mistakes made by others as a result of their penmanship. There is no question that EHRs could improve this situation. It’s definitely about time for America to step up to the plate and join the rest of the developed world.

At least we can say that we are moving in the right direction. But we still need more alternatives and better options to offset health care costs. But one thing is for sure, technology continues to make it easier for us to save money and gain greater economies of scale. And medical ERP software is playing a role.

Written by :

Don Cooper