Six practice employees you need on your EHR demo team

The EHR demo is a critical component for EHR vendor selection. It allows the practice to see how a system might truly fit into the practice and hopefully improve patient care and operations.

Therefore, it is critical to have several key members of the practice on the EHR demo team. This ensures that all EHR stakeholder needs are considered during this phase of the selection process.

Below are the practice roles that should be included in the demo and evaluation process.

1. Clinicians

Depending on your specialty mix, include several types of clinicians. If your practice has physicians, nurses, and therapists, include at least one from each group. 

They provide the most practical feedback because they use the system to document care, review histories, and create billable notes.

Ask clinicians to simulate a typical encounter, from chart review to documentation to closing the note, to see where the software supports or slows them down

2. Clinical director

A clinical director or supervisor can judge how well the system fits broader goals, such as documentation quality, compliance, productivity expectations, and clinical oversight.

Get more out of vendor presentations using this step-by-step guide to making the most out of your EHR demos

Give them prompts like “How will this affect supervision workflow?” and “Does this help standardize documentation across roles?”

3. Front office staff

Front office staff shape the first and last steps of most patient visits, so their input is crucial. They should test scheduling, demographic entry, insurance capture, and patient communication features.

Have them run through live scenarios like new patient setup, insurance update, and rescheduling so you understand the practical friction points

4. IT department

An IT representative is essential during any EHR demonstration. They can assess system requirements, network needs, integration considerations, data migration options, and security safeguards. Their input ensures the practice understands what will be required to support the system, both at go-live and long term.

Ask IT to check items like MFA support, audit logs, backup frequency, and integration pathways with your existing tools. This helps avoid costly surprises during implementation.

5. Administration

Administrative leadership should focus on cost, onboarding needs, and how the system affects the practice at scale. Their insights help balance daily efficiency with financial and operational objectives.

Encourage them to ask for concrete timelines, required staff hours, and where the vendor expects measurable improvements.

6. Billing department

A practice cannot run effectively without reliable reimbursement workflows. Billing and accounts receivable staff should assess how claims are created, scrubbed, submitted, and tracked inside the system. They should also review how payments are posted and how denials are managed.

Use the demo to confirm whether billing tools reduce manual work and provide clear visibility into claim status, common coding errors, and aging trends.

Key takeaways

Rather than letting staff react informally after a demo, give each team member a simple scorecard with categories tied to their role. This allows you to compare vendors consistently and highlight strengths and gaps that may not be obvious in the moment.

A shared evaluation form also prevents the decision from being driven only by the loudest voices or most tech-savvy users.