How much is your practice software really costing you?
When you think about the cost of your practice software, the licencing cost is probably the first thing that springs to mind. In reality, the licencing cost is only a small part of the picture – there are multiple factors that contribute to the full cost of your healthcare software. If you want to get the most value from your software, you’ll need to be aware of all the different costs involved.
There are three categories that practices often overlook when calculating the cost of their healthcare software. Once you understand these, you’ll get a much more accurate picture of what you’re paying, and where you could save money on your software.
IT costs
As well as your actual licencing costs, there are a number of other IT-related costs that you might need to pay for, especially if you’re running your software on-premise:
- IT infrastructure costs – this covers things like computers, hardware and servers.
- IT personnel – if support and upgrades are not included in your current software, you’ll need someone to help you with any technical issues, upgrades and ongoing maintenance.
- IT security – Security is critical when you’re collecting and storing sensitive patient data. If you have a software solution that doesn’t handle security for you, you’ll need to invest in a quality security solution that will keep your patients’ information safe and secure.
Time costs
Time is an important cost that is easy to overlook. When your staff have to spend time upgrading and maintaining your practice software, they’re not spending that time looking after the day to day running of your practice, or caring for patients. You can free up your staff by paying a third party IT provider to do the maintenance and upgrades for you, but you’ll still lose money. On the other hand, if your healthcare software includes updates and maintenance it’s likely to cost you less over the long term.
Opportunity costs
These costs are harder to measure, but they exist nonetheless. If your software isn’t as efficient as it could be, there’s a cost when your staff take longer to do something in a workflow than they should. On the other hand, if your practice software helps your staff work more efficiently, it can save you money and improve your business.
Cost is important in any business, but it’s not just about how much you pay for your software. Efficiency should be just as much of a priority as it means you can see more patients and increase your billings. The right practice software can help you run your practice in a cost-efficient manner, while reducing additional IT costs.
No one size fits all solution
Your healthcare software costs will change depending on the size of your practice and the way it runs. Over the long term, your costs will also depend on factors like future growth – will your software let you easily scale up and down, will it last you for the long term or are you going to have to replace it down the road?
To make it easier for practices to evaluate their software costs holistically, we’ve put together a savings calculator. This calculator will help you see exactly what your software is costing you and how much you could potentially save. Try our free calculator here.
