Electronic Health Records For Dummies

Deciding which products to see

Along with sending back the RFIs, vendors will likely send collateral material including books, CDs, and other marketing materials. Conduct both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the RFI information.

Create a master electronic file to store the RFI information so you can compare each vendor side by side that you feel is most important to you.

For the quantitative analyses, document the vendors’ responses for each general category. For example, if there were 350 specific functionality questions and the vendor “meets requirements” or “functionality is live with clients” for 250 functionality points, document 71 percent.

Review the narrative responses, cost proposals, and collateral material as part of your qualitative analysis.

Set a meeting with the vendor selection team and present the case for each vendor. Using your agreed-upon decision process and all the information at your disposal, select no more than five vendors to continue in the selection process. Product demonstrations and site visits may be more time-consuming for your team, so limiting the number of vendors keeps the process manageable.

Getting the Pricing Right

Cost is a major part of your final decision, and understanding the total cost of ownership of the EHRs you’re considering is important.