Good Features in eClinicalWorks

eClinicalWorks is my personal favorite eMR for medical practices

This is a much less cumbersome software than that used in other offices.

Pros

I like the search patient feature - if two patients have the same or similar names, it alerts you. It would be easy to click on the wrong patient in error. All the chart documents are organized intuitively so it is very easy to find a specific document you are looking for. Also, as soon as you pull up the patient, it shows the date of the last visit and date of the next upcoming visit. Also, printing is smooth and no trouble to set up.

Cons

The progress notes are semi-prepopulated, which could lead to information getting into the note that you did not intend to.

Functional basic EMR

Overall very functional EMR with a few small nuances.

Pros

Easy to navigate through the program. Relatively easy to order medications and eprescribe. There is a bit of a learning curve but is easy once you get the hang of the program.

Cons

The health care maintenance checks were lacking and left a lot of gaps for follow-ups. The E-prescribing was sometimes confusing when it came to choosing a location.

Pretty easy to learn

Pros

Lots of features and pretty easy to learn the software.

Cons

There's nothing I don't like, other than slow loading speeds sometimes.

Sufficient but lackluster

After using the product for 10 years our practice had learned to master the inefficient workarounds to where they have become 2nd nature. Unfortunately, recent server stability issues forced us to look for a new solution. Our hosted platform was eventually upgraded/moved to a more stable server farm however it was too late and the process to replace the software had already began. We eventually migrated to a new solution.

Pros

The price? As far as bargain EHRs goes, this is probably front runner, but the industry is lacking in innovation and functionality and this product is no different. Where you save money up front you pay for it by having a lack of features and seemless easy to use workflows. We constantly had to create nonsensical workarounds to achieve an acceptable workflow that was less painful for the providers but made it 10 times more difficult for the staff.

Cons

As a provider, you grade how easy an EHR is to use based on the number of clicks. As an IT professional you are able to assess a software's efficiency based on numerous other metrics. As the later, I can say by far the worst aspect is the number of clicks. With no redeeming qualities to speak having to drill down 5 or 6 menus to get to a patient's documents or financials and then be forced to back all the way out before checking on a 2nd patient's info is maddening. User's are forced to keep 2 instances open so as to not be forced to close a patient's demos/chart if they have to take a call and open a new patient's chart. This of course is explicitly denounced by eCW as forbidden. We do it anyway ... it's the only way.