In a post done in 2009 that’s still getting comments, Diane G. offered some interesting commentary that I think is fair warning for those purchasing an EHR (names removed since it could apply to a lot of EHR vendors):
We use Software A for our EMR, but Company A provided the equipment and installation quote for Software A and I can tell you, you’ll want to look at EVERY line they bill to your company. We have been billed for equipment that we never received and interfacing that was never launched. I have spent hours explaining to them what services they have billed us but didn’t provide. I am extremely grateful that we did not purchase their EMR and/or Practice Management product!!
Definitely a good warning for all purchases, but applies to EMR software as well. A number of EHR software companies have really simplified the way they bill and so this is less of a problem with those EHR vendors. However, many EHR vendors still try to pilfer doctors for the extras which can often add up to more than the core product. It’s ugly and unfortunate since it leaves a bad taste in doctors mouths.
Along these same lines is making sure your EHR contract is sound. There’s a whole section on EHR contracts in my EHR Selection e-Book that is worth looking at if you’re going through the EHR process.
Many EHR vendors have products that would be useful for specialists but not general medicine and vice versa and so to address the complexities of what hundreds of different specialists may or may not need many EHR vendors have a range of products with many different features or one single core product that is fairly bare bones that the potential buyer can then layer on what they need. You tend to hear horror stories from doctors who made an EHR purchase only to find that it lacked the crucial feature they required and the the blame for this situation is not always on the vendor or the doctor, you could probably flip a coin and get right who’s responsible about half the time. Sometimes it’s the vendor not correctly assessing the clients needs which leads to a inadequate product in the clients mind, which is only made worse when the vendor tells the client that they can sell them the add-on that they need that should have been purchased in the first place. It’s just as well that sometimes it’s the client isn’t clear about their needs or in an effort to save money skimps on a feature that they truly need. In either situation though, you end up with a vendor on the defense and a frustrated client, perhaps we tend to blame the vendor most of the time because the ratio of vendors to clients is so one sided or because there really are some true horror stories out there that skew our perspective in favor of the doctor. I truly believe though that most EHR vendors package their products the way they do with the best intentions and that it’s only the truly bad cases that give the appearance of EHR vendors trying to nickel and dime their clients.