A Web-based Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system is the one in which the clients are accessing the system through the internet. They are not hosting anything on their own servers and are just accessing the features of the software via the world wide web. The other terms used for this system are SaaS and ASP, both of which mean Software as a Service and Application Service Provider respectively.
On the other hand, the traditional server-based systems are the ones in which the clients host all the data present in the EMR software on their own hosted server machines.
Let’s try to discuss a few points about both and analyze which one is better.
Web-based EMRs
One of the biggest advantages of having a web-based EMR is that the data safety is very high. Since it is cloud-based computing, the data can never get lose due to any system crash or any fault. In case the data is corrupted due to any reason, it can always be restored by the IT vendor easily. Another great feature of using web-based EMR is that there are no high costs associated with it. The practice can simply use their current system to access the EMR and do not require to purchase separate, dedicated machines in order to use their EMR software. The third benefit of using this system is that you can access it from anywhere conveniently where you have internet access.
Server-based systems
The first and foremost problem of having a server-based EMR system is that there are plenty of hardware and setup costs associated with it. The practice needs to deploy dedicated, separate machines to allow the software to run properly. Another disadvantage of such a system is that in case of any data loss, the practice can suffer a huge problem since they might not be able to recover it fully. Although modern server-based systems have remote desktop connectivity, yet there could be problems related to the privacy of the data while you are accessing it remotely.
All in all, web-based EMRs are the new area to go and while it is yet to realize its full potential, there are signs of better things to come in this system.
On the other hand, the traditional server-based systems are the ones in which the clients host all the data present in the EMR software on their own hosted server machines.
Let’s try to discuss a few points about both and analyze which one is better.
Web-based EMRs
One of the biggest advantages of having a web-based EMR is that the data safety is very high. Since it is cloud-based computing, the data can never get lose due to any system crash or any fault. In case the data is corrupted due to any reason, it can always be restored by the IT vendor easily. Another great feature of using web-based EMR is that there are no high costs associated with it. The practice can simply use their current system to access the EMR and do not require to purchase separate, dedicated machines in order to use their EMR software. The third benefit of using this system is that you can access it from anywhere conveniently where you have internet access.
Server-based systems
The first and foremost problem of having a server-based EMR system is that there are plenty of hardware and setup costs associated with it. The practice needs to deploy dedicated, separate machines to allow the software to run properly. Another disadvantage of such a system is that in case of any data loss, the practice can suffer a huge problem since they might not be able to recover it fully. Although modern server-based systems have remote desktop connectivity, yet there could be problems related to the privacy of the data while you are accessing it remotely.
All in all, web-based EMRs are the new area to go and while it is yet to realize its full potential, there are signs of better things to come in this system.