Any cloud based medical application needs access to the Internet. drchrono is a cloud based medical records platform and needs access to the Internet. Depending on the type of Internet connection you currently have, your internet connection can vary drastically.
I recommend having your primary internet connection, something very fast above the average internet connection. You can find some details on Internet connection speeds here.
In addition to having a primary Internet connection having a secondary Internet connection that is slower is great as a backup, so for example having Verizon FiOS or a fast Comcast connection as your primary connection and something slower from another Internet provider would be ideal, that way if your primary Internet has issues any reason, you have a secondary way to get to your EHR.
We recommend that everyone using drchrono have iPads with 4G built in, if you don’t have a 4G enabled iPad we recommend you upgrade when you go for your next iPad. Having an iPad with 4G allows you to have another backup redundant Internet connection which is always good. Plus iPad 4G allows you to go anywhere outside of your office and still get to your EHR, e.g. if you make a house call to a patient for some reason.
Make sure you have the right tools to test to make sure it is fast. The tools I recommending having to test your internet connection are the following:
- The speedtest.net app by Oolla, please download this from the iTunes app store, this is an app that will tell you how fast your internet connection is via your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone. Internet speeds can very depending on the time of day and if you have a dedicated Internet connection or a shared connection, ask your Internet provider about this and they can give you details about what you have.
- You can also check internet speeds using the website as well www.speedtest.net.
- Always check status.drchrono.com to see how drchrono is working, this is a great resource to see how we are doing on speed of data access.
- Your router: Make sure you have a router that is up to date, state of the art, the newer routers on the market have better speeds for Wifi so get something that has 802.11ac or 802.11n, which should give it an advantage at distance and Gigabit Ethernet ports (1000Mbps) plugging in an ethernet cord. The Apple AirPort Extreme is great since it have everything a smaller practice would need and some even fun features like being able to print from an iPad, you can get one from the Apple website.
Another great backup is to use box, you can find more here on using box.
