Nationwide, practices are shifting to new and better Electronic Health Records (EHRs) from their previous EMRs. Some practices find their current EMR systems old, outdated and incompatible with their practice management and billing software. Therefore, it becomes a priority for them to make the switch to Electronic Health Records (EHRs). But change is not easy. It takes a lot of time and effort to make the new system function properly, and have all your data migrated with accuracy and no errors.

One of the biggest concerns practices have, whilst making the switch, is that they fear losing their primary data altogether or have it completely re-entered. Both scenarios can be very problematic since practices usually have hundreds of patient records and other vital data, which if not migrated properly, can result in a lot of extra work for the staff in the practice. Therefore, when making the switch, the practices need to be absolutely sure of the fact that their data will not be lost or corrupted and will be 100% secure when migrated onto a new system.

Another important point for practices is that they need to select their EHR vendor very carefully. A detailed analysis needs to be done of all the features and benefits various vendors are offering in the market,  and the eventually selected vendor, must be able to migrate your data. Ask your vendor to give you a live demo of how they would migrate your data. Only then can an informed decision be made.

A key element in this regard is the amount of data that can be migrated into your new system. Most vendors claim to migrate all your data, but in reality, it is a difficult process and not only takes time, but requires a lot of expertise. Your data is of absolute importance to you and you cannot afford to lose any of it during the migration process.

After considering all the various aspects of data migration and its importance related to your practice, you can try sending some of your data to the vendor as a test and ask them to migrate it into the new system. This way, you will be able to make an informed decision as to how data is migrated, what fields/sections/areas are recovered and whether or not there are any data migration losses in the process.

Keeping all the above important factors in mind, you can make a better decision about which vendor to trust with your data migration when you make the switch. Remember, there is no worse feeling than doing all the hard work of making a switch, but not getting any benefit out of it. Select your vendor carefully, which in turn will result in money and time saved.