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The Cost of Free EHR – Advertising (part 3)

“Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.” – Paxton Hood

In part 1 of our Blog series on The Cost of Free EHR we examined the use of your data by “free” EHR vendors and in part 2 (link) your risk and liability for the use of such systems.  In addition to selling your data, many “free” EHRs are only free if you use the version that includes advertising.

Again, to find out you need read (yeah, really read!) the user agreement for one of the “free” EHRs.  You are likely to find contract terms such as:


“We may place advertisements concerning the products and services of third parties on the System, so that you see them when you use the system.  We may receive remuneration from the suppliers of these products and services for placing their advertisements.  We may use computerized processes to tailor the advertisements to you or to your use of the system.”

“You will not use any ad blocking mechanism, device, or tool to prevent the placement of advertisements in the system or the service.”

“If you elect to use our system with no advertisements you will pay to us our standard service fee.  The service fee and miscellaneous charges may change from time to time.”

“We may change the services and the terms under which they are provided to you by providing you not less than thirty (30) days' notice of a change affecting financial terms.” – in other words we can start charging you or change what we charge you with just 30 days notice.  You don’t have a locked in cost.

An important consideration in the use of an Ad supported EHR is whether or not the advertising will negatively impact your use of the EHR and the patient information you are viewing.  A recent study titled A Study on the Effects of Online Advertising found “the mere existence of ads decreases the retention of site content.”

C Huddle, VP Market Development

 

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