Choosing an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) can feel like a gamble. Are you picking the system that works best for you? Will the provider be around to support it in the long term?

These are important questions. After all, what happens to your data if you want to change EMR providers because you selected the wrong system or if your EMR provider goes out of business?

Because you’ve made a huge investment in your EMR in both money and time getting information into it, you should have the right to take that information with you if you decide to make a change. But do the EMR vendors youre considering promise that you can always access your data and take it with you to another EMR, if necessary?

One thing to look for in selecting an EMR is a system that stores data in a Microsoft-based format. Microsoft technology has been tested for decades, is supported by thousands of technology partners, and will likely be around forever so data in a Microsoft-based format is portable.

The result is significant to health care professionals. Not only is your data portables also easy to use. Since you probably already know how to use Microsoft Word, youll spend less time on training, which will increase the time you can spend on other tasks, such as seeing patients. Plus, Microsoft technology is only getting better, since Microsoft spends $5 billion annually to improve its Office suite and that in turn will keep improving EMR.