How to avoid making mistakes
Purchasing an information system for a medical office is a major undertaking. If it is not done with careful planning, it can be a disaster. Yet, a successfully implemented health system can save time, increase productivity and efficiency, and improve the quality of care by making requested information readily available for patient care as well as for strategic planning. Here are a few items to consider when determining what system to purchase. There are several online resources -
Start with http://links.nephron.com (There are special sites for administrators and for physicians, and as well there is an entire practice management section).
1. RFI (Request for Information) Determine all the facts about available systems. Interview other clients from provided lists. Below are a series of questions to ask them.
2. RFP (Request for Proposal) This discipline will help you understand your needs, the specifics of your project, expectations and budget. It will also set a straight course regarding setup, training, service, support, responsibilities and upgrades from invididual vendors
3. NPV (It is important to know what your discounted cash inflow and outflow are going to be, and if the outflow is higher than inflow (NPV is negative), you must understand that your investment is not financially sound. Here you and your team should brainstorm to determine all of the ways that the computer will help cut expenses - time, supplies, labor, increase productivity, meet regulatory demands, increase retrievable funds, more accurately show you financial information and clinical information. Also, you must include all costs - capital expense, hardware purchases, network installation, set up, configuration, and software purchases, set up, training of administrator, training of end user, support costs, upgrade costs, supplies costs and computer depreciation (yes, they wear out!!)
4. Survey - It is important after you system is installed and operational that you document carefully how well the vendors met your expectations.
Were setups done in a timely manner?
Was training helpful?
Was training attempted during setup?
Did the vendor train your staff properly on system administration?
Did the vendor attempt to deflect innovation or promote it?
Were they willing to listen to new ideas and enhancements?
How serious was the problem of fingerpointing?
Did the vendors seem to understand hardware, networking and software issues?
Did the program perform as you expected?
Is the program user friendly and easy to use?
Are there obvious bugs?