Are you a healthcare provider with multiple locations and wondering why your Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system is getting bogged down or even come to a crawl? Aaron Oliver, Senior Network Infrastructure Engineer with ThrottleNet, appeared on TNtv to discuss why many EMR systems perform at extremely slow speeds at remote or satellite offices.

How Working Remote Affects EMR Performance

An EMR system may operate at optimum levels at the firm’s main office, where servers sit on-site. However the operation can slow down to a snail’s pace when accessed at a remote location.

This is often caused when connectivity is not streamlined across all offices and slower connections are used at distant locations. For example, a physician may experience this problem when they visit a remote clinic, plug in their laptop, and find they are not able to work in the usual manner. Suddenly information is transferred slowly, bottlenecks occur, and frustration ensues.

Other Issues Impacting EMR Speed

A slowly performing EMR system could indicate problems with hardware, software and bandwidth, or all three. Beware, however, of IT vendors who profit from selling hardware. They may often point to aging machines as the problem and urge you to replace it them. However, the real problem could be with the older operating systems within those computers.

Fixing a Slow EMR

To remedy these types of problems, Oliver recommends thoroughly examining all parts of the system to isolate any connectivity issues. This includes contacting the vendor of the EMR solution and looking at all the items involved such as applications, data bases and breakpoints.  Each piece between the system and end user should be analyzed.

To avoid costly mistakes, Oliver recommends the business bring in their IT staff or their outside IT consultant when meeting with EMR system vendors. The goal is to have someone who truly understands the operation of the practice’s entire system on-hand during those meetings.

The IT expert will help analyze vendor offerings whether you are purchasing a new EMR system or upgrading an existing one. They will assist in deciding which system operates most efficiently within your infrastructure and day to day operation.

This includes examining the Internet connection at all remote locations and putting the tools in place to monitor them. By monitoring each of the break points, and doing a few tests, you can map out where those bottlenecks are coming from.

The end result is to create an EMR system that has enough horse power and bandwidth to run at peak efficiency, no matter where the location.

Watch ThrottleNet’s episode on slow EMR systems on TNTv below to learn more!