How is practice management different From an EMR?
Many practices are more familiar with EMR’s (electronic medical records), which deal with the clinical aspects of charting a patient’s treatment but that may also contain a billing system. EMR’s are typically far more expensive than ‘stand alone’ billing programs (eg. Lytec, Medisoft, or Medical Manager), and EMRs typically cost upwards of $20,000 per physician. An EMR normally runs on an expensive server that requires the oversight of a system administrator. In contrast, a stand alone billing software can cost ten times less and can typically run as a simple desktop application. Billing systems do heavy duty work for next to nothing, are highly overlooked and under appreciated, but are the backbone of the office as they allow the practice to get paid. We’ve found that many practices already have an expensive EMR and the biller hates the way it bills, so they’re not looking for a $20,000 charting solution. They just want a simple and inexpensive billing solution like the eMedical solut
