reliance on experts -- computers and otherwise

[Guest guest]

RE reliance on experts vs "do it yourself-ers"

This can apply to setting up practice as well as hardware/software for a medical practice.

Good experts save you time, money, and resources.

Bad ones cost you.

Trick is to know the difference.

A few years ago in Family Practice Management, I published an article on setting up a 3 station peer to peer computer setup and software, cost about $5000. ( How a Salaried FP Computerized His Practice -- on His Own http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20000600/43howa.html ). Curious, most of the hardware costs remain the same.

What I didn't put in the article was that I'd hired one of my former pts to set up my 3 computers. He never delivered, using my money to pay for equipment for prior clients, and declared bankruptcy. I got stuck paying off a small loan to the bank for that $5K.

Got to pick 'em right. Oh, I did then earn the right to be a direct purchaser from a small commercial hardware assembler, and buy the computers from them directly. Did so until they, too, went out of business, but did NOT loose money working with them, as I bought as I went.

Experts can help, both time and money. But there is risk with this. You get to choose what you want to pay for. Cheers everyone.

Dr Matt Levin

FP in East of Pittsburgh, PA

Solo since Dec 2004

Residency completed 1988

RE: Re: Hardware, servers, software - group knowledge

But isn’t that Gordon’s point. Like Larry says, it pays to know what’s under the hood, but for most docs, the challenge of 1) deciding to set up a low overhead office and settling on practice type (LLC, S-corp, etc), 2) finding an appropriate EMR, 3) finding an appropriate affordable location, 4) signing up with insurance companies (or opting out of insurances), 5)deciding on and hiring staff, 6) figuring out marketing, 7) etc, etc is so overwhelming that there is little time for a general course in computer networking. Like 3rd year of medical school and internship, there is so much to learn with IMPing. Much of it may be stimulating, but it is voluminous. Unfortunately, if you only have a few months, you have to rely on others expert opinions to fill in all the gaps.

After I decided on my ehr, I too was given a list of hardware to go with my system and was given the phone number to a guy who could put it all together. My system works and works well. Total bill for hardware and networking was around $14,000. Although I only have 2 desktops and a server, I am told with the power of the server and the way it is configured, I could add another 30 desktops. In other words, lots of wasted money and overkill because I relied on expert opinions. But, the system works and I would not know any better if it were not for this forum.

That is why we need to narrow down what the true needs are for the software that is out there, so those without the understanding of what’s under the hood of a computer can quickly get another opinion as to what exactly they need to run a highly efficient IMP office.

-----Original Message-----From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of l_spikolSent: Friday, December 29, 2006 11:05 AMTo: Subject: Re: Hardware, servers, software - group knowledge

Ha--- the hardware specifications are actually minimal-I can build a computer like this in 30 minutes from $600 worth of parts.(Of course the software, configuration and other "value added" stuff specially configured for doctors could make up the rest of the 4-$5,000 worth. Maybe I'm in the wrong business.)As we say in Philly-how much does this cost?-how much ya got?Lou> > >I agree. But a "server", from a software standpoint, is nothing more> >than a program that runs on a computer on your network and is> >connected or "listening" to what is called in "TCP/IP" (i.e. Internet> >lingo), a "socket" or "port" on the network. It's actually not really> >that hard to program it at all, and it can all be done with nowadays> >with completely free open source programming tools. OK, so it does> >require that it "authenticate" the request, like with a username and> >password, and maybe restrict requests to only certain trusted IP> >addresses, and possibly encrypt the data, but that's not that hard> >either, and also can be done with free software. So why are we> >paying so much money for that kind of feature in our EMRs? It's mainly> >because they know that you will likely have more users on your> >network, the "seats", as they like to term it in the licensing> >agreements, and they want to be sure to capture all the revenue> >possible from your installation. In other words, as Larry says, it> >appears in some cases, they want to "MD" off of you.> >> > Caldwell, M.D.> >> > >>