I’ve been looking for an EMR that will suit my practice for two years ago. So far, for the few EHRs I tried, none really came close to servicing a community type of orthopedic practice. I’m still figuring out what to include in my evaluation per se but most of them is acking on some basic features. Here are the basic requirements for an EMR to work in a community based orthopedic practice:

It should be free for all to use and upgraded via a community supported open source software. EMR migration for most,  is all about cost. If the cost is expensively prohibited, I might as well stay with our “manual” clinic operations.

I should be easy to use, both for the MD and the clinic staff. No matter how “hi tech” the system would be if my college level clinic assistant don’t know how to use it, its useless. I might just as well stick to my paper ran office.

It should cater to a community type or rural orthopedic practice. Thus, I really don’t need an MRI on every patient I see. EMRs with a “toggle” option for this field (meaning you can turn it on or off) is an advantage.

A stand alone EMR that can be easily ported or migrated to a web based or service based EMR is preferable. We don’t have a stable internet connection in the office nor I want my patient’s data uploaded into some server elsewhere.

Easy storage and retrieval system of patients data for record, billing and research use is a must.

There, basically a rough guide in choosing my EMR. Wait till I try one and when I read more about this stuff..

Any suggestions?