Last week we lost our phones, internet, and tv for 2-3 hours due to our cable service being dropped. We saved a lot of money switching from ATT to cable last year, and so far it has been worth it, this being the first problem. If this only happened a few times a year for a few hours, I suppose SAS/Cloud based software would be adequate.
In regard to money issues, I doubt I will ever get as much return on investment in the future as I have on some programs I've purchased (or borrowed
), especially MS Access. But, there gets a point where the software that really makes you money or saves your time is worth paying for, even if they have you over a subscription barrel.
Yet, I am one of many birds that have flocked to AC instead of NextGen or eCW probably in small part over frugality. And one of the benefits for purchased software is that it can work just fine for a long time. I like to buy my cars and drive them until the repairs start irritating me rather than leasing a new car every 2 years.
If I was designing a perfect office EHR, I would have a hybrid where the system decides whether to use internet or intranet. Data would be synced between server and cloud frequently. Access would be available everywhere, yet you have your own data. The server could be cheaper since the internet could probably carry 99% of the load faster. And you would never be down due to the redundancy. And privacy would be perfect because I'm dreaming here.
