Here is the answer:

EMR reduces the amount of time taken for the provider to complete a patient encounter. They are interfaced with practice management systems and automatically import demographical information (supporting HL7 standard). One key feature is of having Integrated Document Management System that can automatically scans and field recognizes patient history intake, saving nursing staffs valuable time. This leads to huge savings on the Document Management time and costs, also saves space on Document storage and is much faster way to retrieve documents and pull charts.

EMR also have Streamlined Voice Recognition technology with rich built-in macros which allow the provider to note his/her encounter, print prescriptions, educational materials, and enter diagnosis. Orders are immediately faxed to internal/external facilities and a track is immediately invoked to the patient record reminding you of pending patient activities and procedure codes, place orders (CT, MRI, X-Ray, etc.) and even fax out a referral letter, all within a quick two minutes or less.

EMR can synchronize schedules and surgical Notes into PDAs and automatic posting of forms filled by Patients. This makes it very to easy to manage records remotely while you are not in the clinic.

Adding to the Voice technology, it allows the provider to record directly in to the PDA system and automatically transcribe upon sync with the main system back in the office. This saves huge time in Transcriptions and saves lot of costs if the doctor does it offline using some outsourcing method. So it can all be instant.

EMR's have Patient scheduling support, internal messaging system, multiple site support, etc. which are the key needs of a clinic. Also they have, alerts for Insurance Audit, CPT Modifier and Billing.

One of the most important criteria of having is to have Customized Reports covering all aspects of a Medical Practice with Easy User interface and total Compliance with HIPAA & CMS (HCFA) regulations. They also have Interface with practice management systems, lab modules, imaging systems and other systems that support HL7 standard.

So if you are going to get all these benefits in an EMR, its worth implementing. Adding to the above benefits, EMR can help you increase your practice revenues up to 45% and cut costs on office supplies, improve your Chart Documentation, save you headaches from Insurance Companies and Medicaid / Medicare audits. Some EMR's give you Return on Investment within a year of implementing them.

If you are looking for a good EMR also consider the following aspects:

1. Rapid Implementation and Comprehensive Training.

2. Built in user help, prompt telephone, online and on-site support.

I hope the above points explain why is a need to have an EMR set up in your clinic.

Lastly what are things you should look for in an EMR (to summarize):

1. Simplicity
It should be manifested in ease of use and maintenance in addition to lower setup cost.

2. Performance
EMR should be the software that works for an individual physician and not the physician working for the software.

3. Precision
It should have built in voice technology for PDA's, Tablets, Laptop and Desktop PC's provides for limitless repetition to an accurate and precise speech recognition technology.

4. Flexibility
It should support smaller size PDA and Tablet Technologies, which reduces space requirements and allows flexibility and convenience for providers to carry pertinent information anywhere.

5. Price-Performance Ratio
Lastly, it should help you with significant savings to end users through state-of-the-art technology at competitive Price Performance ratio.

There are many good EMR's available in the market like gloEMR, etc. Its a matter of taking a good decision.