But the change is inevitable. Navani, who has observed 1,800 practices implement an EMR, says, "don't allow small issues to become show stoppers. Take a positive approach. Even if there is a feature you wish had been designed differently, don't let that slow you down."

MedPeds, LLC, in Laurel, Md., a five-physician practice, installed eClinicalWorks in May 2004. Since then, total practice overhead has declined by more than 15 percent, overdue accounts have been cut in half, and income per visit has increased due to improved documentation, according to practice manager Heather Lynch.

Once MedPeds decided to move to an EMR, the practice acted decisively. It sent all active charts out to be scanned and, "after that day, we never used paper again." Lynch's advice to other practices is, "make your decision, and then implement it 100 percent."

Elaine Zablocki can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com.

This article originally appeared in the January 2006 issue of Physicians Practice.