A small medical practice is defined as a healthcare organization that is privately owned and operated, employs a small number of medical providers, and sees a limited number of patients. These practices are typically found in small towns or rural areas, where there is less demand for medical services. As a result, small medical practices are often able to provide more personal, individualized care to their patients. In addition, small practices may have a more relaxed atmosphere than larger hospitals or clinics, which can be beneficial for both patients and staff.
If you’re a small practice looking for an electronic medical record (EMR) system, here are the top 5 EMR systems for small practices.
1. Practice Fusion
According to Practice Fusion, this system supports 30,000 medical practices who serve 5 million patients monthly. It’s a cloud-based system that offers some of the most user-friendly and affordable EMR solutions on the market: Highly scalable plus a robust suite of features and support resources.
Here are the top features of Practice Fusion:
- Automatic updates
- Charting on any device
- Integrated policy support
- Free patient portal
- Flexible billing
- Scheduling
- Task management
Practice Fusion is a great choice for small practices because it’s affordable and easy to use. It’s designed with the small practice in mind, so everything from the user interface to the billing functions are simple and straightforward.
Plus, Practice Fusion is always up-to-date with the latest healthcare regulations, so you can be confident that you’re compliant with all the latest requirements.
2. Athenahealth
Athenahealth is a comprehensive EMR system that is designed specifically for small practices. It’s easy to use and offers a wide range of features, from charting and billing to scheduling and reporting. It’s cloud-based, which means you can access it from anywhere, and it’s packed with features that make managing your practice a breeze.
Athenahealth can be used in internal and family medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, FQHC, Ob-Gyn, and urgent care.
The core solutions include:
- athenaClinicals® – For Electronic Health Records
- athenaCollector® – Suitable for medical billing
- athenaCommunicator® – Suitable for engaging patients
- athenaCoordinator® – Suitable for coordinating care
Some of the key advantages that small practices can expect to get from thai system include;
- Specifically designed for small practices (athenaOne in particular is exclusively designed for office work)
- Intuitive user interface
- Seamless integration of cross clinical and billing tasks
- Easy reporting
- Friendly costs
- Safe for handling prescriptions
- Enables practitioners to create that valuable personal connection with their patients
- Excellent support and training resources
3. NextGen
NextGen is one of the best EMR systems for small practices. It helps independent practitioners and small healthcare providers to manage patient records, schedule appointments, and billing. NextGen is an easy to use system that can be customized to fit the needs of a small practice.
These are the benefits you can expect when you deploy Nextgen
- A dedicated team that helps small practices with implementation
- Integrated capabilities that enhance workflows
- Compatible across devices, from laptops to tablets and mobile phones
- Effective communication tools including e-faxing, virtual visits and direct texts
- Comprehensive training resources
- Scalable as the practice grows
4. Praxis EMR
Artificial Intelligence is at the center of Praxis EMR, enabling practitioners to provide care based on their individual strengths and not on pre-existing structures.
Since Praxis is powered by AI, it is possible to adapt it to any workflow across different clinical environments. It offers a range of solutions tailored for different practice, particularly:
- Established providers
- New practitioners
- Researchers
- Independent practitioners
In 2021, Gartner’s Software Advice ranked Praxis top in Usability and Customer Satisfaction. The American Academy of Family Physicians has previously ranked Praxis among the top EMR providers that users have switched to.
5. DrChronoEMR Software
DrChrono focuses on integration across patient engagement including scheduling, and clinical workflows plus medical billing.You only need to enter information just once. Next, the system will automatically pass the information onward for charting, prescription, lab requests and billing.
This flexibility makes it possible for practitioners to avoid common but costly errors such as transcription mistakes and multiple entries.
Top features of DrChronoinclude;
- Mobile scheduling & check-in
- Smart medical forms (customizable)
- Fast submission of claims
- e-prescription (i-Phone, iPad, Computer)
- Digital consent forms
- Electronic photo charting
- Intelligent reporting
- Payment features
Concluding remarks
If you are a small medical practice looking for the best EMR system, we recommend trying out at least two or three different systems to find the one that best suits your needs. No matter which system you choose, help your staff to learn how to use it fully so that your practice can get the most out of its features.
And don’t forget to ask your peers for recommendations – they may have had an excellent experience with a system that isn’t on our list.
Angus Roberts is an expert in healthcare IT and HIPAA compliance. He has a strong expertise in AI and Cloud technologies and has been working with these technologies for the past decade. Angus is also a frequent speaker at conferences in the US and Europe on topics related to cloud, AI, healthcare IT, HIPAA compliance, cybersecurity, data privacy and more.