What's the lowest-priced set-up you can envision for a solo practice running Amazing Charts, starting from scratch?
If money was too tight to buy new, a physician could shop on ebay for 2 year old equipment and software. They would need to mimic the newegg.com shopping lists I have already have posted on the forum. My $5000 configuration could feasibly be purchased for about $1000. Add the AC tab of $1500 brings you to the rock bottom price of about $2500.
However, doing this would require spending a much larger amount of time shopping & configuring. Although hidden, this time cost should be comprehended as well. When you buy a few add-on computer components and install them yourself, that time is part of the overall cost. Even the time browsing on ebay for the deals and time spent bidding...they all add up in hours spent. Back in school in economics 101 they called this an opportunity cost. Each person must decide for themselves what value you place on your own time to make this opportunity cost calculation. Add this opportunity calculation to the $2500.
Many regulars on the forum love IT & computers or they wouldn't be contributors. For them, the minimum cost route is the path to pursue as IT is a hobby. For most other solo physicians that would rather see a patient than mess around with a computer or network, it might be a better decision just buying the new equipment for between $6500-$10000 and spend more time generating billable patient encounters instead.
