Electronic Medical Records: Client/Server or ASP?

When buying Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Software which is better ASP or Client/Server? Unfortuantely there is no right answer. You?ll need to decide what?s important to your practice and what?s not. In this article we?ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of each model so you?ll be able to make an educated decision when the time comes to purchase an EMR software solution.

ASP is a remotely hosted software system accessed via an internet web browser, similar to the model used in online banking. This remotely hosted system is accessed by paying a rental or service fee. The server is secure and HIPAA compliant and is not located in your office. All technical aspects of the server are managed by a professional IT company, and you pay a monthly access fee (or per occurrence fee) for the services of this IT company. The cost of an ASP-based system is relatively low in the beginning, however because the fees never stop the cost over the long term adds up and is usually ends up being more expensive than using a Client/Server-based system. One of the other benefits of the ASP based system is that almost all computing is done on the remote server, thereby reducing the minimum computer hardware requirements on the clients/workstations. ASP allows you to access all of your information at any time, from any place with internet access. Like all comparisons with advantages come disadvantages. Loss of customizability; the host server is being accessed by many different users. Although your data is secure, your individual customized needs are not met as readily as you may desire. One of the other disadvanteges is that an ASP system does not move as quickly as a Client/Server system. This is and important factor to consider with point n' click intensive Electronic Medical Record software as vital time may be lost by waiting for data to transfer over the internet; these seconds can quickly add up to minutes and hours of a couple weeks time. Accountability issues are a deep consideration to ASP. Company service degradation is felt more acutely and such things as vendor bankruptcy could have a more drastic impact on the practice as a whole. Periodically check the stability of the EMR software vendor, and ask for a backup copy of your data for your own records.

Client/Server models allow for quicker response times in the application as the data from the server to the client is transmitted much faster (usually 100 Mbits/second). The newer client/server products developed in Java and Microsoft .Net are capable of offering the ?best of both worlds? as they have the speed of a local system plus the accessibility from a remote location. Where traditional client/server products required practices to use MS Terminal Services or Citrix technology to access their data from remote locations, these newer systems can be accessed from any internet browser. Client/Server also boasts the benefits of practice having the control over there data. However with this control comes responsibility; the responsibility of being responsible for your data as you are now open to the risk of theft, fire, hard-drive failure and data corruption.

Many IT futurists consider ASP based systems to be the future however many offices find they don?t have the need for remote access and don?t want to put their data in the hands of another company making client/server systems still a popular option. In most cases, if an office has multiple locations an ASP system should always be considered but if an office requires high-performance and doesn?t have multiple locations the client/server system may be the better option. Speak with your IT consultant and the software vendor to get all the facts you need to make an educated decision.
This is an excerpt from the The Electronic Medical Record eBook by EMR Experts, Inc. (www.emrexperts.com)

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Software" article category.

People interested in the above article "Electronic Medical Records: Client/Server or ASP?" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

CMS Solutions, Are They Right For Your Business And How Do You Find A Good One?

CMS stands for content management system. It is basically a system by which you store and make files available to multiple users. The files stored can be just about any type of file from documents to audio or video files to databases and images. The purpose behind many content management systems is to enable collaboration. For example, a content management system can store company documents maybe a proposal for a sale.

Increase Content Appeal with Content Management System

A good Content management system has the caliber to manage contents of big, huge and complicated websites with ease. Companies involved in customized CMS building, construct the software package that can be changed depending upon customer’s requirements. A CMS can be designed for various purposes like servers, desktops, some may need system developers so get it accessed through browser or the web.

How Antivirus Software can be Helpful

How many times you must have been bothered about why your PC is working so slowly than it used to when it was new. You must have had myriad of thoughts about what is wrong with it. May be it’s because of a virus or something else. Maybe there was some inherent problem with system and you did not notice it initially.

Using Bathroom Design Software

OK, so you have decided that you want to redesign your bathroom, but you want you want to have an idea of what it will look like before you spend all f that money on your idea. After all, you aren't one of those lucky people who have all the money in the world, or all the time world, to get it all perfect. You want it done right the first time. Well, you are in luck. There is now bathroom design software that can help you to figure out what it is you are after before you spend all of the money.

Seven Secrets for Effectively Managing a Support Operation

Would you rather buy a product from a company with a reputation for having a great Support organization or a great Sales organization? Join the crowd if you answered Support; survey after survey shows that it is one of the strongest factors influencing sales, and every company has strong self-interest in doing it right.

EnterpriseWizard CRM - Grid Computing

It is widely acknowledged that SaaS-based solutions for CRM and other areas of Business Process Automation have the potential to revolutionize not just the software industry, but the entire industrial sector since they enable small to mid-sized companies to deploy enterprise-class software infrastructures at minimal initial cost and so compete more effectively with Fortune 500 corporations.

Choosing A CRM Vendor

This paper describes a tough, disciplined process for choosing the right CRM vendor for your company. It does not push a predefined laundry list of functionality, but describes how to define your own set of requirements and find out which vendors really meet them.