Thanks to user feedback which resulted in the exponential improvement in quality, EMR has come a long way from being the simple tool to record and document patient profiles and data.

The dynamics of the EMR market are constantly changing, leading to the evolution of the EMR software into a well-rounded solution that caters to the whole practice workflow for physicians.  There have been numerous new entrants, which brought with them new competitive strengths or a niche, thereby adding to the significant growth in the HIT sector.

An annoyed customer of a top EMR vendor said, “It was a nightmare utilizing the support as it was outsourced to a foreign country. English definitely wasn’t the guy’s first language. How are you supposed to get help, when the other person cannot even understand me? This is definitely not problem solving.”

When selecting the perfect and ideal EMR for your practice, look for the following qualities in the vendor you may be considering:

Experience and Product Knowledge – A hardened veteran team with technical knowledge about the product and years of experience in dealing with application problems and issues can significantly save the provider time whilst effectively resolving a problem.

Language – A language barrier can cause a lot of hurdles and create frustration, hence local support should be preferred, but in case your vendor chooses to provide international support, communication quality should not be compromised.

Support Size – Another issue EHR users face is the wait time. With larger user networks and inadequate support resource, larger vendors face this problem more often.

Availability – If in a different time zone, it is important to inquire about the hours of availability of the support team.

Reliable support has a direct impact on your practice operations, hence it should not be ignored in your decision making process when selecting an EMR vendor.