EMR interfaces are a hot topic.  They are the “synapses” that hook together computers.

Everyone thinks they wants them. But in some cases, they simply are not worth the significant cost and effort they take to implement and maintain. Costs that both the laboratory and the client need to cover.  Part of making the right decision is to know a little more about the options that are available.  This page is intended to give you a very brief overview of the pro’s and con’s of interface options.

Interfaces come in two varieties:

• An interface between the laboratory and a “cloud based” EMR, where the laboratory results come through a single interface with the vendor and the cloud EMR distributes that results to the correct practice
  • These interfaces are much easier to set up and maintain
  • Your office does not need to worry about the interface.  It’s the job of the EMR provider to handle that.
  • The laboratory only has one interface to maintain with the EMR provider, making it cost effective to provide interface capabilities to practice at a much lower case volume.
  • 4path currently is interfaced with:
    • Practice Fusion
    • Athena

• An interface between the laboratory and an office’s INDIVIDUAL EMR.
  • Expensive to initiate (often $5,000 – $10,000 to implement)
  • Expensive monthly fees (Often > $100/month per interface)
  • Difficult to maintain
    • Each update, either on the EMR or the laboratory side, has the potential to interrupt the interface
    • Can cause interruptions in service
    • Is very labor intensive and costly to maintain (i.e. I.T. personnel support)
    • If your practice generates more that 100 cases per month and you would like to discuss the possibility of an interface, please contact us.  We can discuss the costs and benefits of an interface.

 

A THIRD option is available for 4path clients also!

MOST EMRs allow the rapid import of a pathology report from a PDF format.

The advantage of this options is that it’s essentially a free option.  It’s easy to implement and available to you immediately from 4path.  You will need to find out how to import the PDF into your EMR from your EMR vendor.

You can quickly and easily download the patient PDF report from our on-line portal, ready to import it into your EMR. Follow this link for video tutorials.

It’s a great way of being able to quickly and easily import reports, regardless of your practice volume.

 

A FOURTH option is also available for 4path clients.

Some EMRs have the capability to accept FAXs and import them directly into the medical record.

This option is fast and easy to set up.  Contact your EMR vendor and obtain the fax number to which your reports would be faxed to for importing.  From there, 4path can quickly implement faxing of your patient reports to that number.

If your EMR has that capability, please contact 4path, so we can help you get that option set up and receive your reports by this option.

We hope that this explanation helps provide you with information regarding interfacing of your EMR with 4path.