One of my all time favorite posts I’ve done was called “Develop Your Own EMR….Are you Crazy?” Hard to believe that was back in May of 2006. I should go back and check out the content of that post, but the title still rings very true to me. Of course, every entrepreneur that I know is a little bit crazy, so it should come as no surprised that I’m hearing all the time about new EMR software getting ready to hit the market.
Today’s encounter has to be one of the most unique. I was going to church in another state (visiting family for the Holidays) and I ran into one of my high school friends at church. We caught up and I learned that he’s the owner of a software development company. Then, as he learned what I was doing he just mentioned off hand that they were developing an EMR.
After I picked myself up off the floor, the meeting at church started so I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him. Since he’s my friend on Facebook (you know, a real friend that I know in real life type of Facebook friend), I sent him a message and hopefully we can connect. I’m really intrigued that his software development house is doing an EMR for someone. Obviously, now I have a ton of questions for him about the project. He did say before the meeting started that “it’s a BIG project.”
Of course, the message here is that there are a lot of people out there that are crazy (no offense intended) enough to start building another EMR. The problem is that there are so many doctors that are dissatisfied with the EMR software that’s out there, I’m sure until that’s resolved we’ll see more and more EMR software entrants. Oh, if only these brave souls knew what they were getting themselves into. I guess maybe that’s the beauty and key to entrepreneurship and why I love it so much.
It will be interesting to hear about. We met with a provider today who, unsurprisingly, hates their EMR, and got the same comment we always hear. ‘They seem to have no idea how we do our jobs.’ This is going to be a problem for a long time, until you get a sizable pool of people with knowledge of both sides. My dad went through it with CAD and engineering, I went through it with project management.
Some of the developers at Claydata, the EMR we are using, have medical backgrounds. I think that the DIY attitude, if fuelled by the right kind of motivation (frustration with existing solutons?) is a really good foundation for a good project. That’s where entrepreneurship is at!
I agree! I must be crazy for wanting to solve real problems and provide a solution that stands on Merit and not just focused on incentive payments. But that’s ok, i already knew i was a little nuts. =)
My guess would be that a majority of the VC funded health startups will either die or be consumed by the remaining big boys like McKesson etc. There are quite a few vendors on the market and not much difference in the way they are used.
I would love to get your feedback on Digital Physician EHR and see if we are as crazy as we think we are. wait, in the meantime, our team is having fun working with providers to solve real challenges they face.
Come visit us today http://www.digitalphysician.com
shameless plug. =)
Michael,
The interesting thing I’ve found in the EHR world is that a lot of the EHR software companies aren’t VC funded. In fact, many of them are cash flow positive with a relatively small number of physicians. I agree the VC funded ones will likely get purchased by some big companies. Although, I don’t think we’ll see the same consolidation that we’ve seen in other industries.
I checked out the website. A little lite on actual information about what you’re doing. The video reminded me of driving from Las Vegas into Utah.
Thanks John, The launch page was very light indeed. We have an updated website, and we have made the commitment to stage 2 MU.
Keep up the great insights!
Take care
Michael Crabtree
CTO – Digital Physician EHR
http://www.digitalphysician.com
Much more informative. I was intrigued by the note “Unlocked Available Data at All Times.” I’d love to learn the practical details of how you’ve implemented this. I’m extremely interested in the idea of EHR vendors not locking away the EHR data and not holding the EHR data hostage if a doctor chooses to switch EHR. My belief is that if you provide a quality product, then the users won’t want to leave even if they can. Plus, long term it’s good for the company to let those who want to go leave amicably. So, I want to support those companies that work that way.
John, we believe that if our software is providing value, our clients will stay. No scare tactics and commitment needed, we would rather earn the business month after month. This is the same reason we offer a free month with no start cost or commitment.
https://www.dpehr.com/dp-product-signup.php
As for the details of how we provide the data to clients, we have a few ways to do this that leave the client in control of the data.
Let me know if you have time to talk and I can send you some information.
Michael Crabtree
CTO – digital physician EHR
http://www.digitalphysician.com