FP Report -- September 1998 Computer vendors make you queasy?
New book helps you launch EMR
If you're just thinking about computerized patient records or getting ready to upgrade your equipment, do yourself a favor. Take some tips from AAFP's new monograph.
How to Select a Computer System for a Family Physician's Office walks you through the process of purchasing software and hardware.
"This book forms a bridge from what many family physicians are used to, such as computerized billing and scheduling, to what they can be doing -- electronic medical records," says Susan Rehm, M.B.A., manager of practice development in the AAFP Socioeconomics Division.
She and technical editor Susan Kraft, M.D., of Leawood, Kan., developed the book under the direction of the Commission on Health Care Services. "As technology advances, the choices in potential applications can be overwhelming," notes the preface.
The book gives examples of successes and failures in automating family practices. One chapter will help you analyze your practice to see what you need your computer system to do. Another chapter lists questions to ask computer vendors and advises having a lawyer review your contract, to protect you from a company that's here today, gone tomorrow.
How to Select a Computer System for a Family Physician's Office, a 112-page document, is online at http://www.aafp.org/fpnet/guide on the AAFP web site. You may purchase spiral-bound copies by calling the AAFP Order Department at (800) 944-0000. Single copies (item #R603) cost members $10; 10 or more copies (item #R602) cost members $7 apiece.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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