VHEAL SaaS EMR model is the latest trend
Dr Saurabh Bhatia
May 14, 2012 at 1:22 pm by Stefanie Hoffman
Tags: cloud EMR, electronic medical records, EMR, HIPAA, HITECH, SaaS
Cloud storage providers could see a surge in healthcare and compliance as more organizations gravitate to the SaaS model, drawn by attractive subscription prices and hands-off installation and maintenance.
According to the report “Saas EMR: Is It For You?” conducted by healthcare research firm KLAS, healthcare providers are struggling to do more IT functions with fewer resources and staff.
This is where the cloud model – as well as cloud and healthcare security providers –can possibly find its niche.
Subsequently, the limited hardware expenses and ease of use coupled with increased trust in the security of data stored in the cloud make SaaS Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) an increasingly viable and attractive solution for the transport of patient medical information, according to the report.
The KLAS study examined responses from 300 healthcare providers currently using SaaS EMR to understand which vendors offer the most comprehensive solution. Key differentiating factors included response time, customer support, product quality and return on investment. Specifically, the report discusses the performance of SaaS EMR products from specialized vendors like AdvancedMD, athenahealth, Bizmatics, CureMD, MedPlus/Quest Diagnostics, MIE, OptumInsight, Practice Fusion, Sevocity and Waiting Room Solutions.
“The SaaS EMR deployment model is becoming more popular for providers who want minimal up-front cost and prefer to give the responsibility of the care and feeding of the software to the vendor. Luckily for providers, there are plenty of good options,” says Erik Bermudez, the report’s research director and author.
In light of increasingly stringent and enforceable compliance regulations, business around healthcare security – and particularly with EMRs – could be heating up for channel partners specializing in safely storing and securing medical data.
One of the driving factors is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted under Pres. Obama, which arms mandates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with enforcement capabilities and funding for medical organizations ranging from small practices to large hospitals and organizations.
HITECH also contains incentives to accelerate the adoption of EMR systems among providers while bolstering privacy and security protections under the federally mandated HIPAA, which governs medical data protection.
Those incentives come in the form of financial payments, which range in tens of thousands of dollars a year, that are distributed doctors’ offices and medical facilities. Those payments are subsequently funneled to the IT channel to acquire and implement EMRs and security and privacy software, and also provide installation, monitoring, maintenance, and education and consulting services around compliance.
In addition to the installation and maintenance of complicated EMR systems, some of the biggest opportunities for partners include conducting risk assessments to determine compliance vulnerabilities, maintaining and upgrading firewalls with a strong antivirus, and providing e-mail solutions and e-mail encryption. This will pave the way for the data to be transferred to cloud EMR and other infrastructure.