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Are the “batteries” included with your EHR?

You’ve heard that old slogan used in so many commercials, “batteries not included.”

Remember back when you were young, and you got that great toy for Christmas or your birthday. You open the box — wow you are excited. Then whammo! No batteries.

Providers in search of an electronic health record to best fit their practice should ask about the batteries. Well, obviously not literally “are the batteries included”, but what IS included? Buyers of EHRs always need to make sure what is included in the price per month (if ASP) or total cost (if client server).

For example, is ePrescribing included? Is thr drug interactions database included? Do I get faxing capability with that? And how is their customer service reputation? If ASP, what is their uptime promise?

When you make your EHR buying decision and you are looking at the cost, make sure you are comparing features with features, apples with apples. And make sure the batteries are in there.