Return on Investment
Practices implementing E-Record can expect to benefit from a fast return on their investment measured in terms of workflow time savings, increased revenue and reduced costs. While each practice’s situation is unique, the following examples illustrate the estimated return on investment with E-Record.
Savings with E-Record
Practices using E-Record can potentially save $124,366 or more annually, per physician!
Reduced documentation time: $ Improved E/M Coding $ Elimination of Paper Charts $ Reduced Transcription Cost $ Total Annual Cost Savings $
Reduced Documentation Time
E-Record helps reduce the time physicians spend documenting, thereby enabling additional patients to be seen without extending the workday. Alternately, because documentation takes less time, the physician will have more free time to pursue other interests. Either way, physician quality of life is enhanced. The following chart illustrates how much time and money a typical physician can save through reduced documentation time with E-Record EMR.
Documentation Time Savings Calculations - Per Physician:
Patient Visit Type |
Traditional Documentation Time (min.) |
Documentation Time using EMR (min.) |
Time Savings (min.) |
# of Patients |
Total Time Savings |
| New Patient (per week) | 5 |
2 |
3 |
20 |
60 |
| Follow up (per week) | 3 |
1 |
2 |
30 |
60 |
| Post Ops (per week) | 2 |
0.5 |
1.5 |
20 |
30 |
| Injections (per week) | 1 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
10 |
5 |
| Total savings minutes, per week: | 155 |
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| Total savings hours, per year: | 118.83 |
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| Value of physician time per hour: | $ 200.00 |
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| Total value of time savings: | $ 23,767.67 |
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Improved E/M Coding
Whether due to fear of an audit or to lack of time to sufficiently document the care given, physicians tend to under-code. E-Record EMR provides extensive documentation 'short-cuts' to speed the process of data collection. Capturing the complete review of systems, past medical history, and family and social history is rapid and thorough. Accordingly, physicians are able to reduce under-coding and confidently bill at the highest E/M level.
Improved Documentation Calculations - Per Physician
Patient Visit Types |
Coding Level pre EMR |
Coding Level post EMR |
Value of Proper Coding |
# Patients Seen |
Total of Value Proper Coding |
| New Patient Visits (per week): |
$ 72.00 |
$ 119.00 |
$ 47.00 |
20 |
$ 940.00 |
| Follow up Visits (per week): |
$ 46.00 |
$ 59.00 |
$ 13.00 |
30 |
$ 390.00 |
| Fracture Visits (per week): |
$ 90.00 |
$ 144.00 |
$ 54.00 |
5 |
$ 270.00 |
| Total from improved documentation, per week: | $ 1,600.00 | ||||
| Total from improved documentation, per year: | $ 73,600.00 | ||||
Elimination of Paper Charts
Medical Economics magazine has estimated that the creation, tracking, storage and maintenance of paper records costs $8.00 per record per year. Electronic records can be maintained for $2.00 per year, resulting in a cost savings of approximately $6.00 per chart with E-Record EMR.
- A physician with approximately 3,000 active charts could realize a cost savings of $18,000 per year.
Reduced Transcription Costs
The average physician spends between approximately $12,000 annually on transcription services. Using E-Record EMR, practices can reduce transcription time and associated costs by75%.
- Decreasing transcription by 75% permits savings of $9,000 per physician annually.
Additional Benefits
In addition to the monetary gains, practices implementing E-Record can also expect to benefit from increased efficiency throughout the practice gained through:
- Elimination of chart pulls and searching for lost or misplaced charts
- Reduction of after-hours work for chart completion
- Reclamation of space formerly used for chart storage
- Remote access to records anytime, anywhere