As I sit here and write this, it is amazing to think that there are vendors still operating in 2016 that lock your data and charge you a fee to unlock it if you ever want to leave them.
I thought this archaic practice was long gone, that was until I heard of a new clients plight when wanting to leave their current service and software provider to join Clinic to Cloud.
The practice had a shared database with many other unrelated practices and as a result the data needed to be segmented and then unlocked. The fee for the privlege of attaining their own practice data $2500 and if they wanted a trial conversion then a final conversion it was going to be a further $2500. WHAT?
Some lessons here for practices all over the nation:
1. Check with your service provider that it is you and your practice that owns your data not the service provider or their affiliates.
2. Check with your service provider that you are not sharing a database with other practices and that in the case you are that they have a mechanism which is fast, easy and without cost to decouple and separate your data. Ask if it has been done before and without issue and get this in writing or you may not be able to leave their service easily or at all for that matter.
3. Check with your current software vendor to ensure that if you wish to move to an alternative provider that your data is freely available and able to be used, it is not in anyway locked and that you do not have to pay any funds to unlock it.
4. Make sure you understand where you data is, what format it is in, how big it is (database and documents/images) and of course that you or your practice are the owners of the data.
Clinic to Cloud does not own your data, your data is your data. You can export it anytime you like from the practice manager login.
Moving from vendor to vendor should be as simple as porting your mobile phone number from one provider to another (albeit there are some additional complications and considerations) but this is an example that people can relate to.
