How to Pick the Best EHR for Solo Practice [in 2024]

As a solo practitioner, when you hear the term “EHR software,” you might imagine a software that:

• Is extremely expensive
• Requires a team of trained IT professionals to maintain
• Is hard to install and actually use

Well, that might’ve been the case a decade ago, but in 2024, EHR systems are actually much cheaper and easier to set up and use.

With a cloud-based EHR solution built for solo practices, you can take advantage of all the amazing EHR features for a price as low as 20 pounds per month!

Want to learn more? Read on!

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• Why EHR is Essential for Solo Practices
• 7 EHR Benefits for a Solo Practice
• How to Pick the Best EHR Software for a Solo Practice

Why EHR is Essential for Solo Practices

It’s no secret that electronic records are much better than paper ones:

• Managing large stacks of paper documents can be both time-consuming and mentally draining.
• Physical documents can be lost, misplaced, or destroyed.
• If a patient switches care providers, moving patient records from one practice to the other is going to be hard.

Fortunately, an EHR solution solves all of these problems and more.

For starters, the patient data is stored and backed up online. Meaning, only qualified personnel can access this data and the danger of losing it is basically non-existent.

The data can also be accessed by the patient through a patient platform, as well as by other clinics that use EHR systems.

So all in all, using EHR software helps your solo practice deliver the best possible patient care.

Additionally, some of the best EHR solutions also come with practice management features. This means they can help your solo practice with things like:

• Tracking which patient acquisition channels work best
• Managing patient billing and accounting
• Allowing online appointment bookings

And more!

7 EHR Benefits for a Solo Practice

Still on the fence on whether you really need an EHR solution?

Here are the top 7 EHR software benefits for solo practices:

1. Better Patient Care. To begin with, using an EHR solution allows your clinic to provide the best possible patient care quality. It’s easier for your patients to access their data, interact with your clinic, and more.
2. Simpler Care Coordination. By using EHR software for solo practices, your patient data is shared amongst other clinics. So, if your patient has to visit a different type of clinic, the doctor there will have a complete view of the patient’s health history without having to get in touch with you or your practice.
3. Improved Clinic Productivity. An EHR solution helps automate a lot of menial tasks at your clinic, allowing you to focus on what’s important - providing quality patient care.
4. Simplified Document Management. All of your documents are stored online, and as such, are easier to find, manage, or fill in.
5. Top-of-the-Line Data Security. EHR solutions like Medesk offer the same level of data security as banks.
6. Clinic Management Made Easy. As we mentioned before, some EHR solutions come with practice management functionalities. So, you can use the software to effectively manage your clinic’s administrational tasks in addition to having your patient data online.
7. Online Medication Management. You can keep track of patient prescriptions online, helping prevent double-doctoring and prescription errors.

How to Pick the Best EHR Software for a Solo Practice - 5 Essential Features

Looking to adopt EHR software for your solo practice?

The next step is to decide on the right solution.

When picking EHR vendors, look for the following features:

#1. Patient Portal Module

A solid online patient portal module is essential for any solo practice EHR software.

An online portal comes with a ton of practice benefits for your patients, including:

• Online appointment bookings. Your patients can book appointments with your clinic online via the portal.
• Online patient intake forms. Instead of having to fill in physical forms during their visit, the patient can do so online, saving everyone time.
• Booking management. The patient can reschedule or cancel appointments online. Optionally, you can also add a cancellation fee (if that’s something you do at your practice).
• Online payments. You can charge your patients for their appointment online in advance.
• Access to patient records. The patient (or other healthcare practitioners) can check the patient’s healthcare records online via the patient platform.
• Access to diagnostic results. The patient can check and access their diagnostic results online without having to deal with 3rd-party websites.

Some solo practice EHR solutions, like Medesk, also offer some additional features on their online patient portal module:

• Customizable Branding. You can match your patient portal’s branding with your website.
• Telemedicine. You can hold online consultations with your patients online via the portal.
• In-Built Referral Program. You can track which of your patients were referred from other medical practices.

#2. Reporting Module

Understanding and basing your decisions on data is going to significantly help grow your solo practice.

That said, raw data most probably won’t be too helpful.

The solo practice EHR solution you’re going to pick should come with reporting templates to make it easy to transform data into useful insights.

Fortunately, Medesk offers 40+ ready-made reporting templates that you can simply plug and play.

You can, for example, see which of your patient acquisition channels are most effective through a single dashboard:

Or which of your services are the most popular among specific patient demographics:

#3. Medical CRM

Another essential solo practice EHR software feature is a medical CRM module.

This feature allows your EHR solution to track all of your interactions with any given patient on top of keeping track of patient data in general.

For example, a patient might call you up and ask about an appointment or something related to their treatment. You can look up their name in the CRM, see what your last interactions with the patient were, and answer their question straight away.

Additionally, the CRM module also allows you to:

• Spot patient trends. You can, for example, pull out data that shows which of your services is popular for 30-40 year old patients.
• Personalize your marketing. You can send out special deals to patients who fit a specific demographic. E.g. free physical therapy consultation for patients aged 40+.
• Automate parts of your marketing. You can set up automated reminders via SMS or email to notify your patients about their appointments. This can help reduce no-show rates.

#4. Telemedicine Capabilities

Today, the telemedicine industry is bigger than ever.

More and more patients worldwide expect clinics to offer online consultations, and as such, unless you offer this as an option, you might be missing out on customers.

That said, some solo practice EHR solutions offer telemedicine as an option.

With software like Medesk, you can:

• Allow your patients to book appointments online.
• Securely conduct online consultations via the platform.
• Do calls from anywhere in the world via Android or iOS application.

#5. Billing Module

Another essential EHR feature is the billing module. Using the software, your patients will be able to:

• Make payments online
• Check their billing history
• View their insurance information
• Check payments due

On the other side of the table, you can also use the software to:

• See amount due for each patient
• Transfer financial data from the EHR to your accounting software of choice
• Check patient insurance information

And more!

Try Medesk, the #1 EHR Choice for Solo Practices

Want to use an EHR solution that has all the above features and more?

Try Medesk!

Our software comes with dozens of robust features, including:

• Online patient platform with customizable branding
• Powerful medical CRM that helps automate your marketing
• 40+ reporting templates
• Telemedicine capabilities

And more! Learn all about it here.