Physician IT

National Electronic Medical Record rating system goes live

VANCOUVER – A system of national ratings of the most commonly used Electronic Medical Record systems in Canada went live this month, with independent assessments and rankings by physicians.

The CanadianEMR Satisfaction Ratings are now accessible through www.canadianemr.ca. The rankings and related data are provided by doctors who have registered and rated their EMR.

Companies that have created vendor profiles on CanadianEMR have the ability to verify physicians who have rated their EMR system as actual users who have been using the system for at least six months.

The unique verification system is able to provide users of the site with a level of confidence in the ratings, noted site founder Dr. Alan Brookstone (pictured), formerly a practicing GP and currently a Vancouver-based eHealth consultant.

When a physician submits a rating to CanadianEMR for a specific system, limited information is shared with the vendor in order to verify an individual as a user of that EMR product.

The information includes: First name, Last name, Province, City and Date of first use. The EMR Rating provided is confidential and is not shared with the vendor. The vendor is unable to begin verifying their users until at least five physicians have rated a product.
 
Over 175 physicians have already been verified as raters of the 12 EMR systems that are listed in the vendor profile section. Two vendors (Jonoke and Optimed) have achieved Silver Rating status by having more than 40 verified raters of their EMRs.

Users who are searching for EMRs are encouraged to interpret the ratings as part of their overall search and selection strategies. Detailed ratings are provided for each product. Physicians are able to register and rate any EMR system available in Canada, although unverified ratings have a lower level of confidence.
 
“I believe that CanadianEMR is becoming the de facto source of unbiased ‘consumer reports’ style information on the EMR market,” said Dr. Brookstone, founder of CanadianEMR. “Following the initial launch of the satisfaction ratings, I expect a growing number of physicians to rate their EMR, progressively increasing the value of information available through the site.”

A number of additional services are planned during the next year in response to interest from physicians and practice managers and include a resource directory of products and services that support the EMR-based practice.
 
EMR products that have received the highest ratings to date include CLINICARE EliteCare, Accuro EMR by Optimed, OSLER Practice Manager, JonokeMed and PS Suite.
 

May 2008 Usage Statistics on CanadianEMR (Since October 2007)

• Number of registered users – 828
• Number of physicians with an intention to purchase an EMR – 1,322
• Number of times one EMR has been compared against another – 10,566
• Number of times a Vendor Profile has been viewed – 14,948
• Number of postings and comments on the CanadianEMR Blog – 933
• Number of page views – 115,064
• Number of visits from Canada – 22,986.