My friend and colleague, Dirk Stanley, MD, MPH wrote an
amazing blog post this week on his CMIO Perspective blog, called “Budgetingfor an EMR, How's your Change Management”. This inspired another friend,
James Legan MD to schedule a Blab on Friday April 8th at 2:00 PM EDT.
We will discuss budgeting for an EMR implementation, citing the difference in smaller implementations.
This flooded me with memories of EMRMatch™
EMR Match was a “labor of love” project with Nuckles
Technology Law and Vendor Select in 2009. Over an 8-month period, each
day we sat with coffee in hand, on speakerphone and Skype, compiling a “one stop shop”
for EMR selection, negotiation and funding. EMR Match was an objective EMR
selection tool, constructed via algorithms that allowed a series of pertinent
Q&A to match you with a “short list” of EMR vendors.
The beauty of the system was the fact that you could remain completely anonymous to vendors for as long as you chose to do so. As you moved closer to
a buying decision, you were given the option to use “EMR Select”, an electronic
RFI and RFP that streamlined the final stages of the vendor selection process.
We took lessons learned, and through intense deconstruction of
features and functionality, we simplified the process of EMR selection,
through a consultative online selection tool.
At one point, large medical associations were thinking of
licensing this tool to help navigate the brain numbing process of EMR
procurement, negotiation and contracting. Lots of time and energy went into this.
I call it a “labor of love” because I never generated one penny from it. We did not create this as a "pay-to-play". My contribution was for the greater good. (but I digress).
The biggest takeaway is THIS WAS IN 2009. Dirk Stanley MD, wrote
a blog THIS WEEK- in 2016. It saddens me to realize that in a 7 year timeframe
we have not come any further in terms of matching feature and functionality to
business use case, workflow and process.
Join us on Friday to discuss “Budgeting for a #EMR” with @dirkstanley
@EMRAnswers @jimmie_vanagon and @wareFLO. Let’s take this conversation to the next level, and solve
real-world issues “off the record”.
