{"id":9323,"date":"2013-09-29T18:00:23","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T22:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=9323"},"modified":"2013-09-29T18:00:23","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T22:00:23","slug":"does-the-cloud-keep-health-it-costs-grounded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/does-the-cloud-keep-health-it-costs-grounded\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Cloud Keep Health IT Costs Grounded?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the industry\u2019s adoption rate of health IT solutions continues to skyrocket, so do costs. According <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hispanicbusiness.com\/2013\/9\/11\/mgma_survey_physician_practices_report_increased.htm\">to recent data<\/a> from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), medical practices\u2019 annual expenditures per full-time physician on IT costs have climbed from $15,211 in 2008 to $19,439 in 2012, an increase of 27.8%.<\/p>\n<p>But <strong>health IT doesn\u2019t have to be so expensive if you harness the power of the cloud<\/strong> to move beyond client-server technologies. Fortunately, cloud-based EHR, practice management and RCM technologies are helping physicians mitigate the rising costs of health IT in three primary ways.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><!--more-->Lower Start-up Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As the name suggests, client-server solutions require a physical server to be installed at the point of care. The host practice is responsible for the cost of the server, installation, and any software needed to operate the system. These costs can be hefty for smaller practices \u2013 sometimes reaching as much as $40,000.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, <strong>cloud-based software doesn\u2019t involve any expensive hardware or software installation fees<\/strong>. The only equipment your practice needs are computers and a decent Internet connection. Cloud-based technology vendors typically don\u2019t require any additional start-up costs either, only the first monthly payment at the agreed upon rate.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>No IT Staff Needed<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Since hardware and software are housed at your practice, choosing <strong>client-server software means you\u2019ll need to hire an in-house IT person<\/strong>, or at least have an IT contractor on-hand whenever you have a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, like with any technology, health IT software can go awry at any moment. So, trouble-shooting expenses can add up quickly depending on the quality of your client-server solution.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carecloud.com\/continuum\/practice-management\/5-advantages-of-a-cloud-based-ehr-for-small-practices\/\">cloud-based software<\/a>, you never have to worry about repair costs. Now, that\u2019s not to say problems will never arise, because again, problems occur with any technology from time to time. But since data is maintained on the cloud, the vendor takes care of repairs remotely rather than having to come to your practice.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Updates\/Upgrades Included<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Although client-server vendors promote one-time costs as a primary selling point, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carecloud.com\/continuum\/hidden-costs-of-client-server-ehrs\/\">this pricing can be deceiving<\/a>. Practices should take into consideration update and upgrade expenses as well. Upgrades normally require paying for new hardware or software plus installation costs.<\/p>\n<p>Cloud-based solutions take care of updates and upgrades automatically. The interconnectivity of c<strong>loud-based solutions lets vendors make updates across the network<\/strong>, usually in the early morning hours so as to not disrupt practice workflow.<\/p>\n<p>The best vendors perform updates every couple of weeks or so, meaning your constantly receiving the latest technology at no additional cost.<\/p>\n<p>Although client-server software once had a monopoly on healthcare IT, cloud-based software has given physicians <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carecloud.com\/continuum\/solo-practitioners-benefit-cloud-based-ehrs-electronic-health-records\/\">a more cost-effective alternative<\/a>. So, although costs are rising across the board, you can alleviate some of the financial burdens by turning to the cloud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the industry\u2019s adoption rate of health IT solutions continues to skyrocket, so do costs. According to recent data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), medical practices\u2019 annual expenditures per full-time physician on IT costs have climbed from $15,211 in 2008 to $19,439 in 2012, an increase of 27.8%. But health IT doesn\u2019t have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Does the Cloud Keep Health IT Costs Grounded? \u2013 Continuum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cloud-based EHR, Practice Management and RCM technologies are helping physicians mitigate the rising costs of health IT in three primary ways.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/does-the-cloud-keep-health-it-costs-grounded\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does the Cloud Keep Health IT Costs Grounded? 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