Difference between revisions of "Vendor Selection Criteria"

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(Extra Credit (optional))
(Demonstrate Clinical Functionality (25%))
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* Do the patient instructions  reside within the system, or are they provided through and external link?  Do the patient instructions include medication instructions? Can the instructions be edited per patient?  Who maintains the      content of the instructions?
 
* Do the patient instructions  reside within the system, or are they provided through and external link?  Do the patient instructions include medication instructions? Can the instructions be edited per patient?  Who maintains the      content of the instructions?
 
* Does the system provide the ability for clinicians to perform medication reconciliation in order to capture the complete list of medications across the patient continuum of care (JCAHO 2005 National Patient Safety Goal #8)?
 
* Does the system provide the ability for clinicians to perform medication reconciliation in order to capture the complete list of medications across the patient continuum of care (JCAHO 2005 National Patient Safety Goal #8)?
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* How closely a EMR product matches hospital or organization’s needs such as produce consult notes, store image and lab data, keep copies of existing scanned paper charts, integrate existing database?
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*What is the ability of the EMR to support research? How many publications that were the result of or funded research made possible through RMR use or data analysis from the EMR’s data warehouse?
  
 
=== Acquisition and Implementation Cost (25%) ===
 
=== Acquisition and Implementation Cost (25%) ===

Revision as of 21:13, 1 February 2009

Example Vendor Evaluation Criteria

Demonstrate Clinical Functionality (25%)

  • Do the functions and features demonstrated in the scripted demonstrations actually help our organization meet our goals?
  • We have ranked the functions/features that our organization would like to see in the new EMR system. How many of our highest priority or "must have" functions/features are covered by the vendor's system?
  • Are the scripted demonstrations by the vendor workflow based?
  • How well is the vendor able to demonstrate the clinical functionality required by [your organization]?
  • Is the software flexible enough to meet our current needs and allow for future changes?
  • Is clinical content included or is it an additional cost?
  • Using scripts that describe your facility's care processes, can the vendor show that the software can perform all of the tasks that are in those care processes?
  • Is the vendor’s system workflow functionalities similar or too different from my current institutional workflow?
  • Does the system have the ability to create and manage patient problem list identifying which are acute or chronic, which are historic or active problems, and associate orders, medication and notes with those problems?
  • Do the patient instructions reside within the system, or are they provided through and external link? Do the patient instructions include medication instructions? Can the instructions be edited per patient? Who maintains the content of the instructions?
  • Does the system provide the ability for clinicians to perform medication reconciliation in order to capture the complete list of medications across the patient continuum of care (JCAHO 2005 National Patient Safety Goal #8)?
  • How closely a EMR product matches hospital or organization’s needs such as produce consult notes, store image and lab data, keep copies of existing scanned paper charts, integrate existing database?
  • What is the ability of the EMR to support research? How many publications that were the result of or funded research made possible through RMR use or data analysis from the EMR’s data warehouse?

Acquisition and Implementation Cost (25%)

  • What is the total financial investment required to acquire and fully implement the proposed solution?
  • What is the estimated time that it will take for the investment of the vendor to pay for itself based on projected savings?
  • Are vendor travel and expense cost included in the overall cost estimate or will these items be billed separately?
  • Do the software license fees include clinical content or is this an additional cost?
  • What are the hidden costs?
  • Are vendor consulting fees calculated on a fixed-fee or cost per hour contract?

Hardware Platform and Technical Requirements (20%)

  • How well is the vendor able to meet our technical requirements ?
  • How flexible is the vendor to change requirements and what are the cost?
  • How hard is to implement new modules within the system?
  • How well is the vendor able to create and maintain interfaces to our existing systems?
  • How well is the vendor able to do migration of our data from actual system to the new, if it is necessary?
  • Is the vendors' software created with the most adequate developing technology? Which platform, language and database are using?
  • Does the vendors' technology compliant with actual innovations and future tendencies?
  • Will we do periodic updates, or will the vendor do this as part of the contract? How often are they released?
  • Do we plan on-site or remote hosting for the system?
  • If we plan to utilize remote hosting, how safe, sound, and accessible are these data?
  • Is the hardware user friendly in all departments? (i.e. nursing, pharmacy, pulmonary,..etc.)
  • How many different parts of our network (inpatient, ambulatory, outreach, and areas within each) does the vendor have applications for? Do the applications coordinate with each other - share information and use a common patient ID?
  • Do the different modules integrate to support single sign-on?
  • Is the institutional IT department well structured, equipped and trained to handle the transition? Will vendor provide training and consultation needed for improvement?
  • Does the system utilize any proprietary or out-dated technology?
  • What clinical vocabularies does the system use? How the vocabularies are being maintained?
  • What is the file purging/archiving system used by the proposed system?
  • Have the necessary hardware been tested and certified with the vendor applications to ensure compatibility with the technology?
  • Are your applications compatible with LDAP to ensure an extra level of security over TCP/IP connections?

Implementability (15%)

  • How much time, effort, and resources will be required to successfully implement?
  • What is the vendors track record for successfully implementing its system in similar settings?
  • Do the vendors provide detailed plan for implementation, training and quality control?
  • Can the vendor implement the system by modules? If so, decide what is the better module for begin implementation based on the hospital needs, resources and the vendors' capabilities.
  • How much time will be spent to train my institution staff with all modules necessary to complete their daily tasks?

Vendor Partnership and On-going viability (10%)

  • Were the previous clients of the vendor similar in size, shape, structure to our organization? Did those customers have goals similar to ours? If so, did the vendor's system help them achieve those goals?
  • What type of long-term relationship do we think we can expect from the vendor?
  • How stable is the company?
  • How many new contracts have they signed in the past year?
  • How many uninstall's have been done the last year?
  • Does word of mouth support that the company believes in service after the sale?
  • What is the vendor's cost per year after implementation?

Future Vision (5%)

  • What is the vendor's five-year strategic plan?
  • What percentage of revenue is being re-invested into R&D?
  • How does the company capture/communicate client concerns for re-engineering? i.e. Is this a learning company?
  • What "game changers" are on the drawing board? Are these related to one of our organization's core goals?
  • Does the vendor have a five-year plan? Obtain a copy to see how well company executives have mapped out their future.

Extra Credit (optional)

  • Can the company demonstrate tangible ways that use of the product can increase hospital revenue? If yes, can you validate this/these claims?
  • Is the vendor willing to contract to go "at risk" for any part(s) of the contract?
  • What other services does the company offer (especially useful for rural or small hospitals or practices)? e.g. consultants to do special projects, data transmission/claims, billing
  • Does or will the product support multiple platforms so that providers can choose the platform they are familiar with? if so, does the vendor provide adequate technical support to all the platforms?
  • Is there an option to purchase the source code for the implemented components?
  • For an academic medical center, does the product has the capabilities to support clinical research functions such as clinical trial management, trial billing, participants’ consents and case report forms?
  • Is there any in-house expertise about the product already?
  • How does the vendor stack up against others according to KLAS, HIMSS, AC Group, TEPR, etc rankings?