As long as I’ve been blogging, I’ve been quite interested in the various EHR selection tools that are available out there. For a while, it seems like there was a new EHR selection tool coming out every week. The frenzy of EHR selection tools has mostly stopped and only a few major ones remain. One of those is EHR consultant (Full Disclosure: Has been an advertiser on EMR and HIPAA for many years) which has been doing this as long as anyone and has one of the most comprehensive EHR databases out there. The other that has lasted all this time is EHR Selector. Then, to round out the various EHR selection websites, there are the websites out there like Medical Software Advice and even the AAFP offers a tool to help in EHR selection (only available for AAFP members).
As I suggest in my e-Book on EMR selection, I think you should take advantage of multiple EHR selection tools. I call it triangulating the data since none of them are comprehensive with the EHR world changing so quickly. So, you take all of the data and triangulate down to the best EHR possible.
Many might wonder why I’m talking about EHR selection anyway. Well, if you’re being generous, we’re somewhere around 50% EHR adoption. That’s still a lot of doctors who haven’t adopted EHR. Add to that the number of clinics that are looking to switch EHR software, and there’s still a big need for great EHR selection tools.
The reason I started this look at EHR selection websites is because EHR Selector has rolled out an Open Beta with new features. The best feature they’ve rolled out is that EHR selector is now free for everyone to use. I was pretty harsh on EHR selector in the past for charging doctors to use their service. That business model just didn’t make sense to me. Ironically, Carl Bergman (one of the people behind EHR Selector), has since become a regular reader of this site and we regularly exchange emails about the EHR world. So, I’m glad that he converted the service to a free service for everyone to use.
I tried out the new release of EHR selector and I have some mixed reviews. It is a beta release so that’s partially to be expected. I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of fields I had to complete to get into the tool. I imagine that could be streamlined some to make it a better experience for the user. Although, I expect the data is part of the reason the service can be made free. Plus, the more data you offer, the better customized experience the EHR selection tool can offer you.
What I do love about EHR Selector is that it’s always had a deep set of data available. I wonder if this will backfire for some users thanks to the paradox of choice. Although, as a data lover I really love all the data. Plus, they could help solve this issue with how they choose to display the various EHR and their data with a beautiful UI. I don’t think the UI is to that point yet, but having the data is the first step in that process.
My favorite feature of EHR Selector is the Compare EHR feature. I love seeing the features of multiple EHR’s compared side by side. This is where all the EHR data points becomes really valuable as well. One thing I do wish is there was more than just a check mark for each EHR data point. I’d love to have some qualitative description or images of each data point so you could really compare the EHR features that matter most to you.
One of the other shortcomings of EHR Selector is they haven’t yet gotten the data for all 300+ EHR vendors. No doubt that’s a daunting task and you have to start somewhere. I expect they’ll work to resolve this over time. Plus, they need the support of the EHR vendors to be able to get the data as well (not always an easy task).
Certainly EHR Selector isn’t perfect yet, but with its new Free feature it’s worth taking a look at if you’re in the market for an EHR. It’s another nice data point in the EHR selection process.
There is a flip side to this. EHR selectors were a great help because there are too many systems to choose from and providers don’t know where to begin. With the ‘gold rush’, and selectors getting inundated with requests from Vendors to include them in the list, it became very competitive in this the selection process. Selectors charge vendors for giving them leads.
In my recent conversations with various vendors, even at HIMSS, all vendors are seeing a drop in quantity and quality of leads. I’ve been working with some vendors to improve both, but that’s besides the point.
EHR selector sites are falling into the same trap they expected to solve. Now, providers have too many selector sites.
So, perhaps a “Selector of the EHR Selector” site?
A Kayak or Mobissimo for EHR software? Interesting. I’m not sure most selection sites will give up their data to a site like that though.
John,
Thanks for taking a look at EHRSelector.com. As you note, it is a beta and we want to know what users think we’ve done well and where we need to improve. In that light, here are our responses to what you have said as well as to Chandresh Shah’s post:
• Signup. When you signup for the Selector, we ask about your role, interest in EHRs, etc. We use these for statistical purposes to understand who our users are. One thing we could do to make life easier is to ask for your email, etc., at signup and then let you fill in a profile as with many other programs.
• Selection. There are two ways to compare products in the Selector. You can go through our extensive feature list and then compare the selected products. The other way is to choose products by name. For example, you can compare InteGrate and Nextgen in a side by side, feature by feature report.
• Product Depth. The Selector has about 30 EHRProducts listed representing the lion’s share of the market. We want vendors to update their entries and we want more products. For example, we have none of the free EHRs. However, our interest has always been in providing reliable information. For example, we have about 40 features, such as Natural Language Processing, that we ask the vendors to prove operation.
• Leads. I agree with Chandresh that vendors are concerned about the leads they get. Our approach has been to help users be better leads by refining their needs. We encourage them to use the Selector as a resource during their procurement process. For example, we recommend that users attach the Selector functions they want to their RFPs and to their contract.
• Privacy. Other selectors may sell their user names. We do not.