Islip, New York -- Creative Socio-Medics has just announced the availability of a new return-on-investment (ROI) model for organizations evaluating the financial impact of electronic medical record keeping (EMR) systems. The model, developed in conjunction with OPEN MINDS, allows organizations to estimate both the costs and likely savings that will result from an EMR system.

Creative’s ROI model takes into consideration a variety of costs – hardware, software, training, maintenance, enhancements, staff support costs, and data migration. The modeling process also facilitates quantification of current costs (and projected savings) in areas such as record transcription, record access, improved collections, reductions in chart deficiencies, reduced compliance and accreditation costs, and increased productivity. According to Creative Socio Medic’s Jim Gargiulo, “ROI modeling is really an educational tool for management teams. By documenting processes and then assessing how technology allows for process reengineering, managers have the opportunity to use financial data in making decisions about both technology investments and business processes.”

Creative Socio-Medics has partnered with OPEN MINDS, a leading research and consulting firm in the behavioral health and social services industry, to create this tool for use in planning for information technology. The ROI model:

• Quantifies the total costs of adding an electronic medical record keeping capability and allows scenario building using variables such as the number of users, type of training, and decisions regarding data migration.
• Models the costs of current clinical operating systems and billing systems and projects the changes in these costs by the automation afforded through EMR.
• Provides organizations with a year-by-year estimate, for a three-year period, of system costs, estimated savings by business process, and anticipated total cost or return.

“This ROI model is the first tool that allows behavioral health and social service executives to quantify the total cost and the total projected savings of EMR systems,” said Monica E. Oss, president of OPEN MINDS. “The estimates are created in a way that allows management teams to understand the financial impact of reengineering specific processes. It can be used as a tool for prioritizing the focus of organizational change.”

Creative Socio-Medics has been continuously involved in providing information systems to mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse organizations since its inception in 1968. Creative started in and has always been in the human services marketplace. Its services and products were developed specifically for behavioral health and human services organizations. The company’s team has consulted with and installed products in support of over three hundred behavioral health systems.