Lake Health University
What's the cost of an EHR Implementation?
EMR’s are used by physicians to record and monitor the health metrics and personal information of their patients. It also offers decision support features that aid diagnosis, the creation of treatment plans, the prescribing of medicine, and the ordering of laboratory tests.
EHR Implementation Costs
After researching and shortlisting EMR/EHR products for your healthcare organization, you may check the prices and think your budget can accommodate them. But you still have to factor in the implementation costs. Each EMR or EHR product has its installation and deployment costs, and you need to be prepared for them. You can divide implementation expenses into indirect and direct costs.
Direct costs of a new EHR Implementation
According to data provided by HealthIT.gov , the cost of buying and installing an EHR varies from $15,000 to $70,000 per provider. However, in multi-physician healthcare facilities, the cost could be as high as $162,000. Thankfully, you can implement your new OneTouch EMR system for much less.
​EHR deployment costs also vary depending on the type of deployment you choose. The two major types of deployment are on-site and cloud deployment also called SaaS. If you deploy the EHR solution at your hospital, you’ll incur additional hardware costs, and you’ll need to buy a software license that requires a sizable upfront fee. Adopting an on-site server model also means you’ll have to take care of the back-office technology needed to run the EHR including servers, data storage, and data backup.
On the other hand, cloud-based deployment requires you to store your healthcare and patient data on your vendor’s servers and gain access to it online. You’ll need to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee. Your vendor may also ask you to pay an initial set up fee, which is always smaller than the license fees paid for on-site deployment. While you won’t need to set up a back-office with heavy-duty servers and data backups, you may have to pay for a fixed number of users to access the software monthly. Your monthly access fee will increase if you need to give more employees access.
Indirect costs of a new EHR Implementation
Apart from upfront, setup, or access fees, your practice will also have to budget for indirect EHR implementation expenses. These expenses can be substantial, and you need to budget for them if you want to have a successful implementation.
The most important indirect costs include training costs, staffing, and the cost of loss of productivity during implementation. Ensure that you budget adequately for training all categories of employees that will use the EHR, including IT staff, clinicians, administrators, and others. During training, your doctors will spend less time taking care of patients, so you need to factor in this loss of productivity and attach a cost to it.
There is however an alternative, Learning as a Service (LaaS).
Learning as a Service (LaaS)
Live training is very valuable, but it can be incredibly expensive, and oftentimes falls short of the mark because it’s very easy for a trainer to miss key components of the training as individuals ask questions, and/or want to focus on topics they feel are most important to them.Â
Statistically, people retain just 40% of what they hear, leaving staff struggling to recall what was said during the training session. That rings true here as well, and in many cases, additional training becomes necessary in order to fill in the learning gaps, adding to the expense of it, along with delays in implementation.
You could expect to pay $100 per hour or more for live instructor training. Using our course as a basis for comparison, it would cost a practice more than $30,000 for all the training offered in our Master Courses, if taught by a live trainer, and your staff would only retain 40-50% of what was taught. Our (LaaS) courses are a fraction of that cost. And, once purchased, your staff may train at their own pace and refer back to it as often as they like for a refresher. Â
Learning as a Service, is a much more cost effective solution as it provides you with the ability to customize the training to your staff’s specific needs. It also allows you to control the costs and the implementation/training process in a more effective manner. Â
About our Individual Courses
More than 300 hours went into the creation of the programs listed below. Each course is broken down into easy to manage and understand lessons, each full of step-by-step instruction, video’s, screen shots, and quiz’s to make sure you fully understand the content. When a course has multiple lessons within it, the course will provide hyperlinks to specific topics within the course lesson making it easy to locate the specific training topic you’re looking for.
It was our goal in creating these courses, to be able to bring each individual within your practice the exact courses and lessons they need in order to perform their role effectively. Provide them with the ability to refresh their knowledge as often as needed, and do so in a cost efficient manner.  We hope you enjoy the courses as much as we enjoyed making them for you.
OneTouch EMR Individual Course Catalog
Step-by-step instruction on how to use the system
System Setup (Specific to the Practice Administrator, and/or Office Manager Role)
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General Setup $42.00
Covers all topics in the Administration>>General tab
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Practice Settings $84.00
14 lessons covering all topics in the Practice Settings area.
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Practice Profile $60.00
10 lessons covering the Practice Profile section.
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Practice Location $36.00
6 lessons covering the Practice Location area.
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Appointments $24.00
4 lessons covering how to set up the Appointments in the system
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Patients $6.00
The system has the ability to create custom, searchable fields in the Patient's Chart. This lesson shows you how to set it up and use it.
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Encounters $36.00
The system allows for the creation of customized workflows during a patient visit. This shows you how to create them and associate them with specific appointment types.
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Letters $6.00
This lesson shows you how to create and customize letters used by the practice (i.e. go back to work/school, etc..)
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Patient Portal $30.00
These 5 lessons show you how to customize the information within the Patient Portal
User Accounts (Specific to the Practice Administrator and Office Manager Role)
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User Accounts and Locations $18.00
Short course covering how to create user accounts and monitor where they're logging in from.
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User Roles $6.00
Course designed to explain the different roles within the system, and their capabilities. Also how to customize roles or create new ones.
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User Groups $6.00
A deeper dive into some of the security features of the system based upon certain functions.
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Directories $24.00
5 lessons providing instruction on how to correctly set up the Directories and how to use them. If you plan to send eFax or emails to labs, pharmacies or referrals, this is a must.
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Point of Care $42.00
An important section - 7 lessons providing instruction on how to set up and use of the POC for use by the providers.
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Health Maintenance $6.00
An important lesson on how to create and use Health Maintenance Plans to monitor your patient population and set up unique, actionable plans to monitor and treat them, including Chronic Care Management (CCM).
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Printable Forms $6.00
How to create and use Printable Forms for the office, providers and patients.
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Online Forms (Practice Admin's Only) $54.00
An extensive lesson on how to create online forms which may be used by the practice, providers and patients, including using them in Encounters.
The Main Menu
Menu - Patients
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Search Charts $6.00
A short course on how to search for patient charts. This course is suitable for ALL USERS.
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Add Patient $6.00
Short course on how/where you may add patient's within the system. This course is suitable for ALL USERS.
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Encounters $6.00
Learn how to search for encounters within the system with this short course. This course is suitable for all user roles EXCEPT "FRONT DESK".
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Orders $6.00
Short course on how to understand the Orders section. This course is suitable for all user roles EXCEPT "FRONT DESK".
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Refill Summary $6.00
This section addresses how to use the Refill Summary section. This course is suitable for all user roles EXCEPT "FRONT DESK".
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Lab Results Summary $6.00
This short course shows you how to read/use the Lab Results Summary of the system. This course is suitable for all user roles EXCEPT "FRONT DESK".
Menu - Schedule
Menu - Messaging
Menu - Reports
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Clinical $30.00
Course entails; Patient Lists, Public Health Surveillance, Immunization Registries, Provider Stats and the Audit Log (Practice Admin only). This Course applies to: Practice Administrator, Medical Assistant, Clinical Staff and Providers.
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Labs & Rx Refill $6.00
Course covers the Matched and unmatched requests. Applies to the following roles: Practice Administrator, Office Manager, Front Desk, Medical Assistant, Clinical Staff and Providers.
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Health Maintenance $18.00
Course covers Health Maintenance Plan reporting and applies to these roles: Practice Administrator, Office Manager, Medical Assistant, Clinical Staff and Providers.
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MIPS/MACRA $24.00
Course shows you how to use the MIPS/MACRA reporting and applies only to the following roles: Practice Administrator, Office Manager, Clinical Staff and Providers.
Menu - Preferences
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System Settings (Clinical Staff) $24.00
Covers all areas of the Account and user options, including adding a signature. This course is for RN, NP, PA and Physicians.
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System Settings (Non-Clinical Staff) $24.00
Covers all areas of the Account and User options for Non-Clinical staff (Practice Administrator, Office Manager, Front Desk
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System Settings (Medical Assistants) $24.00
This course is designed specifically for Medical Assistant roles and covers how to personalize the system settings.
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Display Settings $12.00
Course covers topics on how to customize the display settings. Appropriate for ALL USERS.
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Favorite Lists $42.00
Favorite Lists can dramatically improve your workflow. This course teaches you how to use them. Applies to the following roles only: Practice Administrator, Office Manager, Medical Assistant, RN, and all Providers.
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Templates $24.00
This course teaches how to create, modify and customize ROS & PE Templates. The customization capabilities are almost limitless. Applies ONLY to the following roles: Practice Administrator, NP, PA and Physicians
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Work Schedule $6.00
This course discussed the use and importance of setting up and using Work Schedules. Can also be used to set up days where specific procedures or services are performed. The course is intended for ALL USERS.
Menu - Help
Patient Charts
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Add Appointment, Quick Visit, or Patient $18.00
This course discusses the ways to Add Appointments Patients and where applicable, the Quick Visit. This course is appropriate for Practice Administrator, RN, NP, PA and Physicians.
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Add Appointment or Patient $12.00
This course discusses how and where to add appointments or patients. It is designed for Office Manager, Front Desk and Medical Assistant Roles.
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General Information $78.00
In this course we’ll cover all the sections associated within the General Information tab of the Patient’s Chart and is appropriate for ALL USERS
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Medical Information $240.00
This course involves all of the elements included in the Medical Information. It's intended for Practice Administrator, Medical Assistant, RN, NP, PA and Physicians.
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Attachments $84.00
Learn how to manage documents, notes, messages and images in the patient chart. This course is only intended for Practice Administrator, Medical Assistant, RN, NP, PA and Physician roles.
The Encounter (For Medical Providers and Clinical Staff)
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Charting a SOAP Note (Providers) $90.00
This course covers all the steps necessary to correctly chart a SOAP Note. This course is intended for those with roles of: Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Physician
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Charting a SOAP Note (Clinical Staff) $90.00
This course covers all the steps necessary to correctly chart a SOAP Note. This course is intended for those with roles of: Registered Nurse, Medical Assistant, CNA, etc..
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Creating an Encounter $30.00
This course specifically discusses how to create an Encounter. This course is intended for those with the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Physician
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Summary Tab $67.00
This course will cover all of the elements of the Summary Tab of an Encounter note. It is intended for those in the role of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Physician.
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Chief Complaint (CC) $24.00
This course covers everything in the CC tab and is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Physician.
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HPI $42.00
The HPI area allows the provider to expand upon the presenting illness or condition of the patient. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physicians
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Hx - History $24.00
This course covers the Patient Medical History. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Meds & Allergies $12.00
In this course we cover the Meds & Allergies area of the Encounter. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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ROS - Review of Systems $18.00
This course covers the ROS tab of the Encounter. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Vitals $36.00
The Vitals tab is covered in detail. This course is intended for the roles of: Medical Assistant, Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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PE - Physical Exam $48.00
This course covers all areas of the PE Tab. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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POC - Point of Care $55.00
Course addresses all areas of the POC tab and how to use it. This course is intended for the roles of: Medical Assistant (Sometimes) Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Results $30.00
Course covers the Lab Results area of the Note. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Assessment $36.00
Course covers how to build out your patient diagnosis. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Plan $66.00
The Plan allows the provider to begin formulating treatment(s) based upon the diagnosis(es) that have been listed in the Assessment area. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.
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Superbill $78.00
The Superbill is the area of the system that allows the user to summarize the visit and provide the necessary information and documentation needed to create either a HCFA 1500 (insurance claim) and/or a patient statement. This course is intended for the roles of: Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant and Physician.