Why Superior EHR Customer Service is Critical to Your Practice’s Success

SRSsoft, February 17, 2012

BEI Commentary: Although this blog is written by a vendor, it’s point is valid. Customer service for your EHR is very important. We have seen several practices receive poor support from their vendor, making the EHR experience more frustrating. If you are selecting an EHR, make sure to validate the level of customer service. If you are unsatisfied with the support that you are getting now, see if you can transfer your support contract to a VAR or other resource.

In today’s increasingly complex environment, superior service and support from your EHR vendor are critical to long-term practice viability. Reliable customer service can no longer be viewed as just a box to be checked on the EHR scorecard during the selection process—it is vital to success.
The EHR industry is characterized by fairly poor customer satisfaction—the average KLAS score for service sits at a low 73% (Ambulatory EMRs for 11–75 Physicians). Physicians who cannot rely on their EHR company for excellent support will find their productivity and success jeopardized. No longer is the impact of an EHR limited to its use in managing charts—the increasing demands of government and other payer programs have extended the reach of an EHR beyond the four walls of the practice, and success or failure now has increasingly significant financial implications. Physicians must be able to successfully share information, connect to HIEs, and report on clinical data. In the future, they will need to respond to new reimbursement models such as ACOs. All of these communications are complicated and fraught with potential technical challenges—even with the best EHR solutions—making access to the highest quality customer support vital. Read More