The Columbus-based Ohio State Medical Association has launched a program designed to help its members secure better contract terms and pricing from electronic health records system vendors.
The organization's Standards of Excellence Program is recommending vendors that have agreed to offer preferred pricing to association members and include specific terms and conditions in their contracts. The association worked with The Coker Group, an Atlanta-based health care I.T. consulting firm, to develop the program.
So far, participating vendors are Allscripts, e-MDs, Greenway Medical Technologies, iMedica Corp., Misys Healthcare Systems and Sage.
These companies have agreed to offer association members specific contract terms on such issues as transfer of ownership of software licenses, amount and timing of deposits and payments, and cost of future licenses. The program is only open to vendors that have products certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.
The association’s executives anticipate the program will help make the EHR decision-making process easier for physicians. But they also caution that even if their members use the standard contract terms, they still should thoroughly review their EHR contracts and possibly include practice- specific objectives.
The association represents more than 20,000 Ohio physicians, residents, medical students and physician staff. For more information, go to osma.org.
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