Electronic medical records (EMR) software is widely used by healthcare organizations all over the world. It has all the benefits of a paper bedside chart plus added digital bonuses: patient records are stored more securely, are easier and faster to fill out and find, and can be seamlessly transferred to other healthcare systems for further processing. 

The healthcare IT market is full of ready-made EMR solutions, yet some organizations prefer to implement custom EMR software, even if it costs more. Let’s explore when it’s better to stick to off-the-shelf software to get maximum benefits for your budget or to opt for custom software to get a tailor-made solution.

Custom EMRs fit like an expensive glove

Custom EMRs are built specifically for a particular organization, with its unique daily workflows in mind. In some cases, the system is designed and built from scratch, in others – it is created by combining the ready-made modules. 

The main advantages of custom EMRs are the following:

  • Features valuable for your organization. Many specialized practices need more than basic EMR functionality (patient records storage, patient-doctor messaging, appointment scheduling, etc.). For example, dental clinics want to have dental charts securely stored with other patient information, psychiatrists find psychiatric assessment templates very handy on a day-to-day basis, and cardiologists benefit from ECGs inside their EMRs.
  • User-friendly interface. Practice-specific add-ons make EMR platforms more robust. Yet, too much personalization and varied functionality can be overwhelming and even detrimental to medical practitioners’ mental health. Doctors who have to deal with multiple apps and windows every day lose focus and risk burnout. A custom EMR can be tuned for a particular practice to spare them the trouble of scrolling through multiple fields they don’t need.
  • Superior interoperability. Custom EMR systems can be developed with your other software in mind to be flawlessly integrated with all your healthcare organization’s systems. Better healthcare interoperability means faster operations, more focus on the patients, fewer manual mistakes, and enhanced data security.

However, custom EMR systems have quite a few shortcomings:

  • High upfront cost. Developing a customized system is much more expensive than buying a subscription and using an off-the-shelf solution. Organizations that want to get the benefits of a custom EMR but are on a tight budget can look into a middle-ground approach. Building a custom EMR on the basis of the open-source software or combining pre-made modules is usually cheaper and faster than developing a solution from scratch, though it’s still more expensive than a fully ready-made system. 
  • Longer implementation cycle. The length of an entire custom EMR implementation project – from the discovery phase to the deployment – can take half a year. Often, it takes even longer than that. A cloud-based general-use EMR can be implemented into a medical practice in a couple of weeks.
  • Trickier maintenance, upgrades, and support. It is plausible that your custom EMR software would be more resilient and efficient than the off-the-shelf system. However, if issues do come up, your personnel won’t be able to fix them following the advice from some online forum. You most likely will have to stick with the vendor who developed the system and delegate all problem-solving to them. 

Off-the-shelf EMRs get the job done

Healthcare organizations can buy and almost instantly implement a ready-made EMR with a defined set of features into their IT ecosystem. There are multiple pre-made EMRs on the market for varied medical specialties, each with a different integration capabilities and learning curve for the personnel. Their main benefits include:

  • Standard features. Many healthcare specialists, for example, primary care physicians, don’t need fancy features. Basic EMR capabilities are completely enough – the system’s reliability and speed mean more to them.
  • Lower initial costs and quicker implementation. You don’t have to wait months to start using your off-the-shelf EMR. Time was of the essence during the COVID outbreak, and it is still an important factor. Practitioners who don’t want to spend too much money on their patient record-keeping system, and don’t mind limited functionality or advertising can find EMRs at a very low cost.
  • Widespread adoption and industry familiarity. When many providers use the same system, they can create user communities and help each other by offering adoption and usage tips, as well as suggesting solutions in case of any issues. In addition, if your organization uses a popular off-the-shelf EMR, newly hired medical professionals are more likely to be already familiar with it hence requiring less training.

Although ready-made EMRs can look good enough for anyone, they have a couple of shortcomings crucial for some care providers:

  • A limited set of specialized features and templates. If your healthcare organization provides care services that are more complex than usual general-care facilities, standard EMRs might not be able to support your workflows. For example, most ready-made general-use solutions don’t have proper fields to fill out during the psychiatric evaluation of patients, and the results would have to be jotted down into notes. They are harder to see and transfer between practitioners in this format and will more likely be overlooked, jeopardizing the quality of care for the particular patient.
  • Less user-friendly. According to KLAS research, working with less personalized general-use EMRs tends to be draining for medical personnel. Users report spending more time filling out forms and managing documentation with such systems than without them. 

How to make the right choice

Unfortunately, there isn’t a definitive parameter that a healthcare provider can look at when selecting an EMR system. Choosing between a ready-made and a custom EMR involves considering multiple factors:

  • Organization’s specialty and requirements. The more widespread healthcare services you provide – the higher the chance a general-use system will work for you. With niche specialties, a custom solution can be not a luxury but a necessity.
  • Budget and time constraints. Even if your practice is highly specialized and needs a custom EMR, your budget can be too low to afford it. The best solution is to turn to open-source EMRs or to negotiate a stretched-out payment with the vendor. However, if you’re pressed for time, a ready-made EMR will be the best choice. After all, you can make a transition to the custom one down the road.
  • Personnel experience and opinion. It is essential to listen to healthcare staff when selecting an EMR. People who will use the system should be included in the selection process. Most medical professionals have worked with one or more EMR systems over the years of their practice and will guide you toward a solution that would suit them best.

Although it is vital to assess your requirements, resources, budget, and personnel preferences during the EMR selection process, it is also important to choose the implementation partner properly. An experienced EMR software provider will help you smooth any rough edges and find the most beneficial approach to software adoption for our organization.