Vendor Selection Phases

Goals

Proper planning (including identifying and establishing goals for your practice) will allow for the selection of appropriate solutions and ease in it's implementation. It is especially important to conduct workflow assessments of all current processes within your practice setting.

Assessment

There is no one perfect IT solution that will fit everyone’s requirements. Proper assessment of your practice needs and thorough planning will help your team select a product that will meet your demands. The goals identified by your team assist in determining the functions needed.

Request For Proposal

A request for proposal should be sent to vendors that appear to meet your specific practice needs. Vendor demonstrations and site visits will help further narrow the vendor selection search. Only after the team has performed an analysis of how well the finalist's solutions meet your needs, and an informed negotiation has taken place, is it time to sign a contract with the chosen vendor.

Assessing Vendors Products

Functionality - Increasing patient safety, improving the quality of care and increasing the efficiency of clinical and administrative processes are reasons to implement IT solutions.  A determination of what functions need to be included to achieve your business goals is at the core of your decisions.

Cost /Value - The relationship of cost to benefits, an estimate of the direct quantifiable impact on your organization. Need, what is the importance of the project to the practice. Is this implementation required to other projects?

Vendor Characteristics -How is training, support, implementation, upgrades developed and handled by the vendor. The Vendor stability and it's focus on healthcare environments similar to yours are also key.

Performance Ratings - Many non-bias organizations are available that provide rankings of the numerous Healthcare IT vendors currently providing solutions. Ratings of specific product types, comparisons of pricing and listings of company financial performance should be considered.

Functionality

• • Features required
  
  
• • Ease of use
  
  
• • System performance
  
  
• • Flexibility
  
  
• • Expandability

Cost/Value

• • Hardware / Network costs
  
  
• • Interfaces
  
  
• • Software
  
  
• • Maintenance
  
  
• • Upgrades

Characteristics/Performance

• • Training
  
  
• • Support
  
  
• • Implementation
  
  
• • Company Stability
  
  
• • Company Performance