I got into AC because it was low cost. I was just starting a practice and saw that the future was in EMRs. I tried several of the inexpensive EMRs (soapware and ????) and found them lacking. I emailed Jon Bertman for information after having played with AC and he not only got back to me quickly he made some changes to make it easier. He was also raising prices around Thanksgiving in 2001. That did it, I bought AC. I had been renting space but was in the process of opening my own office which I would not do for the next 6 months. I couldn't leave a computer in the office i was renting space, things disappeared. So I continued to use an old laptop and just practice on a few patients. At that time, I was printing all my notes.
Over the years AC has steadily increased in price. Some of it was inevitable. There were government regulations to follow and essentials to add such as online prescriptions. They have changed hands now 2 times. The support has become much more difficult to access. I really had not looked at other EMRs until about a year ago. My main hospital is pushing Epic. It has some serious advantages as well as disadvantages. But the ultimate cost is only about $100 more than what I pay now. For that I get billing, much better support and integration to pull records from other sites on my patients. Yes, it's much more complex but....
I had not seriously considered retiring until COVID, but it has made everyone consider both their priorities and future. I may not see the point in going through the pain of changing EMRs if I'm going to retire in the next 3-5 or less years (the powerball is $410M on Wednesday, maybe it's time for me to play). Then again, perhaps I'll join another group for the end and not have to worry about EMRs, just go with the flow. I can probably learn any EMR if I'm paid to do it, but why do it if I'm the one paying.
