Best Practices In
Vendor Selection &
Contracting
Presented By: Joseph Naughton-Travers, Ed.M., Senior
Associate, OPEN MINDS
Sponsored by ADVIX
Presented On: February 26, 2015 at 2:00 PM EST
Choosing The Right
EHR For You:
I. Steps For Vetting Vendors
& Their Products &
Services
II. Contract Negotiation:
Ensuring Best Value &
Performance
III. Quick Peek: Key Elements
Of An EHR
Implementation
Steps For Vetting Vendors &
Their Products & Services
Key Vendor Evaluation Areas
•
Functionality
•
Customer support and
service
•
Implementation
expertise
•
Company stability
•
Cost
Key Phases In EHR Vendor Selection
& Contracting
Phase 1
•
Organizational Assessment & EHR Vendor Research
Phase 2
•
Preliminary EHR Vendor Selection
Phase 3
•
Vetting Finalists & Making Final Selection
Steps For Vetting Vendors & Their
Products & Services:
Phase 1 — Organizational Assessment
& EHR Vendor Research
Organizational EHR Readiness Assessment
•
Review organizational strategic
plan and role of technology and
EHR in achieving key strategic
and operational objectives
•
Assess staff readiness for an EHR
•
Assess IT infrastructure readiness
One of the keys to successfully selecting a software
application is knowing what functionality your business
needs or from what software it would benefit
Get an overview of what products and services are available
• Trade shows where vendors exhibit
• Requesting marketing and promotional materials from vendors
• Issuing a Request For Information (RFI) to gather basic information about
The goal in this step is not
to evaluate the vendors, but
rather to gain a better
understanding
of how technology could
benefit your organization so
that you are able to detail
the functional
specifications based on
both current operations
and needs, as well as what
“could be.”
Determine If You Have Any Vendor
‘Knock-Out’ Factors
For this preliminary screening
of vendors, we recommend
using “knock-out” factors that
are driven by your
organization’s business needs
and management and
Commonly Used Knock-Out Factors
Whether the vendor has or requires
a hosting or application service
provider (ASP) option or SAAS
(software as a service) option
Vendor experience
with local market or
specific service
types
The vendor’s
software technology
platform and
database
Lack of mission
critical
functionality
Whether the vendor
offers wireless or
disconnected
database
technologies
Phase 2 — Preliminary EHR Vendor
Selection
Develop & Release A Competitive
Request For Proposal (RFP)
Develop a detailed listing
of your organization’s
functional needs
•Incorporate any knock-out
factors into it
Exact functional
specifications vary from
organization to
organization
•Common areas of
functionality that you
should review to determine
which specifications are
most important for meeting
your needs
Sample RFP Sections
Vendor overview
Technical information
and infrastructure
requirements
Training, implementation support, data conversion, software upgrades Customer support approachData conversion,
customization and
software upgrade
processes
EHR capability and
implementation
experience
Software functionality Report writingScanning, document
management, and
record release
capabilities
Mobile solutions
Data import/export and software interface capabilities Experience in local market
Compliance plans
Integration with
primary care
Customer reference contact information CostVendor Overview
Section to provide a basic
understanding of the vendor’s business
Company
Customers
Services
Key
qualifications
offered to
meet your
technology
needs
Section should contain detailed questions
from the technology staff about needs for:
Hardware
Software
Network
Telecommunications set-up needed or
recommended platform/database Software (any near-term plans
for upgrading?) staffing to support Recommended the application once
implemented
Technical Information &
In this section, describe your organization’s typical approaches to:
•Training
•Implementation
•Support
•Data conversion
•Software upgrades
Include the following detailed information in this section:
•Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members you have in each of these operational areas
•Information on typical implementation services
•Include key tasks, timelines, and staff members involved both from your organization and the
purchaser
•Help Desk Operations
•Include information on 24/7 availability, how calls are prioritized, response times, whether the caller
has routine access to live staff, and all other information of interest to a customer
•Experience in converting data from other EHR systems
•Information about User Groups
•Information about how customers are involved in the software enhancement decision process
Training, Implementation, Support, Data
Conversion, & Software Upgrades
In this section, ask the vendor to detail:
How is the creation
of electronic health
record forms
supported?
What if other
electronic data
forms are needed?
How can end-users
(rather than the
vendor) customize
the electronic health
record
Report Writing Functionality
In this
section,
ask the
vendor to
describe:
Report writing capability of its technology solutions
A listing and description of standard reports
Export capabilities
Compatibility with other applications
Ease of use, etc.
A report-writer that is
comprehensive and easy
to use, allowing reporting
on all data elements in
the system
Ability to write custom
reports and write and
use stored procedures
Data-warehouse and
data mining capabilities
A data dictionary and
supporting
documentation
An extensive library of
reports, with commonly
used queries and sorts,
which can be easily
customized as needed by
the customer
Ability to save and name
report templates
Ability to run reports in
batches
Ability to run reports or
report batches at
scheduled times
Ability to create
management information
dashboards
Ability to create graphs or
charts
In this
section,
ask the
vendor
to detail:
Additional business intelligence tools for reporting executive
and management metrics
Partner(s) that provide these tools
Functionality in detail
Scanning, Document Management &
Record Release Capabilities
In this section, ask the vendor to describe:
• Supports for scanning and managing documents that are created by other
parties so that they can be included in a case or medical record
• Supports for releasing parts or all of the case or electronic records to other
parties
In this
section,
ask the
vendor to
describe:
Expertise in interfacing with common general
ledger and human resource applications
Helping provider organizations share data
with other providers and stakeholders
Software Interface & Data Exchange
Capabilities
In this section, ask the vendor about:
•Experience in the local market
•Support for your state’s versions of electronic billing forms
•Interfacing with state systems
In this section, ask the vendor to describe:
Plans for continued software and
business development
Technical directions it is taking its
products and services
•Include both short- and long-term
roadmaps about product enhancements
or other initiatives
Overall Software Development Plans &
Technical Direction
Mobile Solutions
Ability to securely connect its
software to smartphones,
tablets, or other mobile
devices,
What functionality is
available?
Disconnected Database Functionality
Does software application have the
functionality to support disconnected use
of the system in instances where internet
or wireless is unavailable or unreliable?
•If so, detail what functionality is
available with the disconnected
solution
Consumer/Family/Other Care Provider
Portals
What “portal”
capabilities its software
has for outside parties
to securely access the
system
Detail what functionality
is available with the
What is the software’s
current status with
regards to Meaningful
Use as prescribed by the
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS)?
What plans are in place
for supporting
requirements under
Stage 2 and Stage 3?
Meaningful Use Certification &
Compliance Plans
Experience With Integration
With Primary Care
Describe experience with aiding behavioral
health providers with integrating with primary
care providers through data exchange
Cost
Detail the cost for its software technology solution
•Clearly distinguish between one-time and on-going costs
•Be complete enough (along with the information from the Technical Requirements
section) for you to develop a three-year budget for the proposed solution
Provide the number of users to vendor (named as well as
simultaneous) so vendor can respond with cost information
Software Functionality
Ask the vendor whether its product supports
the detailed list of functional specifications
Included an Appendix as part of the RFP
•Vendors can indicate Yes/No to the functional
specifications list and make comments
Customer Reference Contact Information
Ask for list of at least
25 customer contacts
•Needed to evaluate vendor
on customer service
Ask vendor to highlight
customers similar to
your organization or
will reflect satisfaction
Additional Information
Include an optional section where vendors have an
opportunity to share any other information they feel
would be helpful to you in the selection process
Appendices
I. Functional specification checklist
II. Pricing template (excel spreadsheet)
III. Customer reference information form
Receive all responses
from software vendors
Score vendors on how well
they meet your functional
needs
Develop preliminary 5-year
budget for each vendor
•(Include any required technology infrastructure upgrades and changes in staffing) so that you can begin to compare cost
Conduct Preliminary Vendor Screening
From RFP Responses
Screening From RFP Responses
Determine if any of the
knock-out factors apply
Select vendors to move to
software demonstration phase
• Average is inviting 6-10 vendors for
half-day software demonstrations
Conduct Software Demonstrations &
Select Finalists
Develop Likert scoring tool for
your staff to use during the
software demonstrations
Scoring should be based on
core areas of functionality
from RFP
Narrow vendors to 2-3
finalists, based upon both
functionality and
user-friendliness
•In most instances, organizations come to a very quick consensus about finalists at this point in the process
