Electronic health records have become essential for every healthcare facility and choosing an EHR system is a crucial thing. Healthcare providers have two options to choose from regarding the software – they can host the software on their own network or on an EHR system where it can be accessed through the cloud-based internet. The cloud-based EHR system proves to more beneficial for the small healthcare practices. Here listed are some of the benefits of using this system.
Reduced Infrastructure costs: To use their own network (client-server) the healthcare organization or practice needs to invest huge amounts in purchasing expensive hardware. Along with this investment, the practice even needs to hire IT professionals to set up and then manage this hardware. When a practice adopts a cloud-based system for electronic health records these costs related to the purchase and maintenance of the hardware and software are borne by the EHR vendor or a hosting company. Hence, the infrastructure and IT related costs are reduced when cloud-based system is chosen.
Better cost estimations: There are more chances of a client-server system leading to unpredictable costs when there are issues with the server maintenance. The cloud-based systems with their consistent costs enable the healthcare practice to make their financial projections with better accuracy and confidence as they pay a periodical fee only.
Easy to implement: The process of setting up the system in client-server basis is not only complex but also requires additional investments whenever there is a necessity of scaling up. Whereas with cloud-based systems whenever there is a scale up in the facility it can be easily addressed by contacting the vendor who provides the
EHR solutions. Enhanced data security: EHRs are related to patient information which is to be safeguarded and kept confidential. With the use of cloud-based EHRs, there is no risk of losing the data due to natural calamities and even the cost of storage of the files is reduced. Also, there are enhanced security tools that ensure maintaining the confidentiality of the patient’s private information and transferring the data with no extra cost. It is advisable for new and small healthcare facilities to adopt the cloud-based EHRs that facilitate in moving away from paper records with reduced costs and offer several benefits.