What Makes the eRecord Different?
1. We use open source code
We are not microsoft certified and proud of it. CarePaths is built on an open source platform. There are two reasons for this. First our goal is to avoid paying expensive licensing, management, and deployment fees that many other EMR vendors who have essentially purchased their technology “off the shelf” have to pay. These costs need to be passed on to customers in a variety of packages including required licensing, consulting, and support contracts. Also, when the costs of these third party components go up, they need to be passed on to the customer. At CarePaths, we strive to cut out the middlemen and be a direct provider of a software service that delivers a solid product at an affordable price.
Our platform is built with Ruby on Rails and Linux/PostGres. In addition to the obvious cost savings, open source software is more reliable and has better support. A world wide collaboration of users insures that open source code is widely vetted so that bugs are quickly identified; and is constantly improved via feedback from other users. Software sold by a one company monopoly cannot compete with software created and supported by a world wide, Internet-connected, community of collaborators.
2. We build the core components ourselves from the ground up.
Many EHRs are pieced together with outsourced modules–a practice management system from this vendor, a documentation system from that vendor, a scheduler from yet someone else. The eRecord has been almost entirely created by our team from the ground up. This means it is a fully integrated application–one module “speaks” to another module. This translates into efficiencies that lead to better performance.
3. Our philosophy is grounded in our experience providing mental health services.
The creators of the eRecord are mental health clinicians who have been practitioners. They have also worked in services research and created psychometric instruments, decision support tools, and practice research networks. The wealth of clinical resources that are part of the eRecord reflect their collective background and commitment to quality improvement.
