EHR Buying Guide—Vendor darts

So, here’s the thing with what a lot of EHR vendors seem to view as the lower end of the food chain, chum worthy customers—IPAs, group and individual practices.

Vendor darts.  I can’t tell you the number of providers with whom I’ve spoke who’ve had to navigate the chum-filled water of vendors trolling for dollars.  Unfortunately, when they come to your door, most of you are ill equipped and ill prepared to know whether you need what they’re selling.

It’s like playing EHR vendor darts—by the way—you’re practice is the dartboard.  Vendors fling their offering at you and hope they stick—sometimes you have to sharpen them or they’ll simply bounce off.

Just between you and me, or among us—if you’re a stickler about English—I’ve played vendor darts for years, and it’s always difficult for the dartboard to win.  (I am speaking parenthetically so they can’t hear us.)  We both know this is meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek.  The EHR vendors are professionals, and they have the utmost belief in their product, just as they will if they change firms and have to sell another product—this is the unspoken dirty linen of software.

There are a few hundred purported EHR solutions.  Each is a little different.  Which one is best for you?  Do they know which one?  If we are honest, the answer is, no, they don’t.  They do not know, they cannot know what features their competitors offer.

They want you to stay focused on features.  I want you to stay focused on business problems.  What business problems of your do their features solve?  It’s a fair question.  They should be able to answer it, and you should be able to answer it.

Rule number 1:  Any time a vendor tells you, “This is how we get our system to do that”, means their system doesn’t do it.  Those words signal a workaround, not a workflow.  It means they want your business to adapt to their way of thinking how your business runs.

Rule number 2: Vendors hope you don’t know about Rule 1.

What can you do?

1. Work with someone who can spell out your requirements in detail.
2. Work with someone who can navigate the chum field on your behalf.
3. Assess some of the free EHR systems

Or, without meaning to be too gauche, contact me.