Such software frequently allows users to capture patient demographics, schedule appointments, maintain lists of insurance payors, perform billing tasks, and generate reports.
[1] In the United States, most PMS systems are designed for small to medium-sized medical offices.
Client-server software's advantage is in allowing multiple users to share the data and the workload; a major disadvantage is the cost of running the server.
Such software decreases the need for the practice to run their own server and worry about security and reliability.
However, such software removes patient data from the practice's premises, which can be seen as a security risk of its own.
Medical practices often hire different vendors to provide the EMR and PMS systems.
Practice management systems often include a calendaring or scheduling component that allows staff to create and track upcoming patient visits.
Schedules are often color-coded to allow healthcare providers (i.e. doctors, nurses, assistants) to easily identify blocks of time or sets of patients.
Almost invariably, the process of running a medical practice requires some introspection, and practice management software usually contains reporting capabilities to allow users to extract detailed data on financial performance and patient financial histories.