CEO: I.T. Vendors Need Annual Reviews
HDM Breaking News, October 21, 2008
Group practices should conduct annual reviews of their information technology vendors just as they do for their own employees, one practice CEO advises.
Practices should treat their I.T. vendors as an extension of their staffs, says Philip Rhoades, CEO at Orthopedic Group Inc., Pawtucket, R.I. Rhoades circulates an annual survey to all staff members, including physicians, to get their feedback on each vendor's performance. "There have been a number of times where I thought a product was working great, but some staff members were grumbling and reluctant to bring it to my attention," he notes. "I want to make sure that everything is working well with the software."
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Rhoades made his comments in an education session at the Medical Group Management Association conference in San Diego.
Group practice administrators also have to take the right political steps to ensure they hire the right consultant, Rhoades says. For example, a physician might ask the administrator to hire a friend who is a consultant. "The politically wise thing to do is say 'but we should really get other bids. This is a serious project, and we need to do some research and make sure that we get multiple bidders so we make a good educated decision.'"
Rhoades also advises practice administrators to ask for changes in information technology contracts if any language is unclear. "If they decline to make major changes, ask them to attach a letter to the contract to define any terms that you did not understand clearly," he adds.
Administrators should seek out vendors who are willing to learn precisely how the practice functions, advises Carolyn Pickles, a former practice manager and now an independent consultant based in Longmeadow, Mass.
She told the story of one vendor who was "able to come in and learn about my practice's needs and connect the dots between the features of his system and the needs of my practice. Over the course of several meetings, he could make reference to previous conversations about the features I needed because of the way I process patients on the front end. He demonstrated he understood the way we practiced so he could relate the features of his software to our needs."
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