Get the facts, but first you need a system
Get the facts, but first you need a system
Experts offer key questions to ask vendors
How many of your patients who had regularly scheduled mammograms were diagnosed with breast cancer in the earliest stages? You could find out with a few taps on a keyboard if you had the right computer software and database. Yet finding the right system for your practice can be daunting.
"There are commercial products out there that say they collect outcomes. But "who says they’re interested in the outcomes I’m interested in?" says Jonathon Seltzer, MD, senior director of health systems research at Premier Research Worldwide in Philadelphia.
The bottom line: You can’t buy outcomes software by just pulling it off a shelf, unwrapping, and loading it. You search will likely require months of research of vendors and their products.
But health information experts have some advice that will help:
r What are your information system needs?
"You always start at the end and work backward," says Robert Eberle, president of Clinical Information Consultants, a Raleigh, NC firm specializing in outcomes and information systems. "What information do you want to collect? Why do you want to collect it? How are you going to use it?"
Remember, too that there is nothing out there that will do everything you want it to do. Instead, identify the software that does most of what you want it to do.
r How much money and time are you willing to spend?
Investing in an electronic medical records system which some experts feel is essential to measuring outcomes effectively illustrates how time and money spent upfront can translate into a long-term investment to help the practice.
Electronic medical records can provide reminders to physicians, alerts about drug interactions, and analyses of the cost and benefit of treatments. They generally work through personal computers that are networked via a centralized server.
Vendors typically charge a per-user fee for the electronic medical record software $2,000 to $3,000 per doctor. Prices vary, however, depending on the system installed and the size of the practice, says Chris DeLuca, vice president of sales for Advanced Health Med-E-Systems, a software firm based in Chicago.
Establishing an electronic medical record may require additional hardware, too, such as a file server. If you have offices at multiple locations particularly if some are in a different city or state you may need to invest in a communication system, such as a frame relay network that connects dedicated local lines without per-call charges.
r How will the system function within your current practice?
You may find a system that is impressive in its scope and versatility. It can produce reports on everything from functional health assessment to most beneficial treatments. But you have a host of questions to ask before you know whether this system will work for you. Will you collect and input the information during the office visit or write it on a form and assign someone to input it later?
Will you need computers in every room or will you use portables? Will your current hardware work with the new software? What billing system and other systems do you currently have?
r What is the track record of the vendor?
Health care computing experts agree that practices should work with established vendors. In this ever-changing field, a vendor may not last long. "You want to pick the company that has the best chance of being here five years from now," says Eberle.
That means doing your own consumer research. What is the company’s financial status? What do other practices have to say about the software? What kind of support and training will the vendor provide?
Eberle suggests creating a grid to record your information. On one side, you should list all the performance points that you have determined are important for your practice. For example, you may want a system that interfaces with your current billing system and that can communicate with other entities, such as labs or pharmacies.
If you do your homework, you won’t be disappointed, he says. "You can get a system that will work within the framework of your expectations only if you work with those systems that will meet or exceed your expectations," says Eberle.
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