How do you afford a system?  And how do you afford a system that isn't going to be obsolete in one year?

Is it wise to pay $500,000 for an electronic medical records system?  Good question. 

Most hospitals are leery of entering in contracts for anymore than 2-3 years.  Why spend $500,000 on a system that you may quit using in 2 years?  

Procure a system that is reasonably priced, hopefully on a per use basis. Place payment of the system under operating budgets and not capital budgets.  Trying to obtain a system's approval usually takes the course of a year because capital budgets are a yearly occurrence.   Then if you do get it passed, by the time installation has occurred, the system already has developed a element of obsolescence. Then what do you do?  Furthermore, the financial benefit is lost by not implementing  systems rapidly.   Several medical records software vendors have clients experiencing immediate  $20:1  return on investments.  Why use a paper templates when you can gain more value added components, plus experience the same if not greater reimbursement. With systems that can be rapidly installed with existing hardware, obtaining a system that  has a rapid return on investment can only be obtained on a per use basis that usually is applied to operating budgets. 

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