PracticeIT's free EMR Lite with the critical functions that Docs need.

This is our interview recorded with Rich Steinle, CEO of PracticeIT talking about their free EMR Lite product "with all the critical functions that Doctors need".

Click the play button below to listen to this interview.

Robert Gleeman:  This is Robert Gleeman with EMR Update. I am talking today with CEO of PracticeIT, Mr. Rich Steinle.
Rich, thank you for being with me today.

Rich Steinle:  Thank you Robert, it is good to be with you again.

Robert:  We talked a while back and did an audio interview before and in this case we wanted to catch up and see what has been going on new at PracticeIT, because I recently did an interview with Mark Anderson and he mentioned that you do sell a Lite EMR and this is being discussed intensely right now at EMR Update, what have you got new for me Rich, what is going on?

Rich:  Since we last talked, one of the biggest things we have been doing is listening to doctors. I mentioned last time to you that's a commitment of PracticeIT's. And what I believe that we have learned is when you talk about an EMR Lite, what we have learned is that I don't think doctors want necessarily less functionality or less help. They just want to know that you have the critical functions that they need to run their office.

And so we call that either an ante or a table stakes, but the things that are important to them and you have to have them, so we haven't found doctors not interested in software, but what we have found and what we believe is that software is not what is winning in the industry alone.

And so what I mean by that is when you convince a doctor that you have the critical functions that they need, then what we see is, well then what is causing the adoption problems. And if you look into the industry and you study the statistics and Mark Anderson and his report are the source of a number of these, just one source, but you learn in the physician practices that we are serving of under 10 doctors and particularly the one to three that you have paltry adoption rates in the eight to 12% range.

Then you look at the people that have adopted and it gets worse. And it says that up to three quarters of them aren't even using their EMR, after a year of adoption. We don't think that software wins the day. The industry is known just abhorrently poor customer service and support and when we talk to doctors what we hear is, that no comes alongside me and helps me put this into my practice.

There are too many options out there for software to be the answer. You can get just about anything from anyone and so we have taken it a step further and said if that is the problem, if they don't have a partner, if doctors don't have a partner that is serving them, then what we are willing to do is say, well then we will build our company around that and that is all you will ever pay for.

And so PracticeIT has taken the bold step of saying you can have the software. We will give it to you and you never pay for it. It is not a pricing scheme, you don't pay for it later, we don't hide it in anything. Most of the companies in the industry charge you for the software whether it is on a monthly basis or a large upfront fee and then they charge you for their service contracts or their training.

PracticeIT is willing to say the risk of adoption, the poor adoption of these in the industry, the reason they are not helping doctors is because they are not being served well. And so that is the only thing that we are going to ever charge you for is we are going to give you our people and our service model and we are going to come alongside you, let you adopt it at your pace, we are going to make it unlimited and include everything in that service fee and we are going to give you the software.

Robert:  And the software will reside in your practice's office on a server?

Rich:  No, it is a hosted solution ‑‑ that hasn't changed, so typically our competitors are out there charging a monthly fee for that, but then they also charge all the training and service fees along with it. And we are saying no, everyone ought to be able to have one of these, we would like to commoditize the EMR if you will. It ought to be as resident and basic in a doctor's office as the stethoscope, as their printer, their fax machine.

Doctors ought to be able to have one of these and companies ought to make it easier for them to have. And so we are going to come alongside of them, give them the software that has all the critical functions which gets back to the EMR Lite conversation, but then we are going to come alongside of them and make them successful.

Robert:  Now I understand that not only do you give the critical functions, but you have gone a few steps further into areas where even the EMR heavies don't go.

Rich:  One of the things that we are really trying to do Robert is not make Lite a cop‑out in the technology. And so want to be really careful and communicate that that we are not trying to take them out by saying, well we will just drop off early as far as the software goes.

And so as an example, some of the lighter systems stop at, we are a charting system or they go into e‑prescribing and have some simple SOAP note or something. And what PracticeIT has done is say: no, doctors really do deserve and want the full integrated functionality.

And so to that end, we have integrated a complete practice management system into our EMR for seamless integration all the way from the front desk through charting and then all the automated clearinghouse, billing services included. We have also gone a step beyond even with some of the industry leaders in the full EHR have, which is a full bidirectional automated laboratory interface.

Robert:  Ah, that is unusual.

Rich:  Yes, so that is not very present in a lot of the lite systems and it is even not present in some of the leading full EHR packet. So again, we are working hard with our physician advisers and saying, we don't want to shortchange on the software, we are just making the case that that's not what is making the industry successful. As a matter of fact, the lack of what we are offering which is the high‑touch high‑availability service is what is making it fail. And so that is where we have decided to put the focus and we are getting a phenomenal response from the physician community.

Robert:  How can someone find out more about this, how can they sign up?

Rich:  Well, they can always visit our website at PracticeIT.com. And there are lots of ways to contact us there. They can call me directly and I will be happy to chat with them or any of the folks that we have here at PracticeIT, because at the end of the day what we are selling is those people and how we do it.

Robert:  What would be a good phone number to call you there to get more information?

Rich:  866‑PRN‑4111.

Robert:  OK, great. What else can you say to the readers, the many many doctors that read EMR Update about PracticeIT, why should they give you a call there, Rich?

Rich:  We have created this company in the face of really almost the unmanageable level of choices that doctors face today to directly respond to their needs. It bothers me that more than eight to 10% of small independent physicians can't have a viable option or don't see a viable option in front of them given the 300 to 400‑odd choices that they these days. And the fact that they come back from reviewing those choices more bleary eyed than encouraged is a disappointment to me.

And so I think that really my message to them is that we have tried to hear that and we have spoken with the physician community. We believe they need key software functionality. We are going to offer them this and we are delivering that, but more than that we have heard that they need a partner. And we come alongside them and we will guarantee their success that way.

And the best way I think to communicate that to them would be to maybe talk to some of our satisfied physician partners right now. And if they give us a call, we can put them in touch with those folks and they can get a firsthand experience of what that feels like, and the difference I think PracticeIT can make.

Robert:  That is excellent Rich Steinle, CEO of PracticeIT. Thank you very much, Rich.

Rich:  Thanks very much Robert.

Richard Steinle, CEO of Practice IT can be contacted at the numbers below:

Toll Free: 866 PRN 4111
(866) 776-4111

PracticeIT, LLC
9600 Great Hills Trail, Suite 350W
Austin, TX 78759