Vendor Availability and Timelines

As clinics and hospitals develop their plans for adopting and/or upgrading their EHR systems to the meaningful use certified release, one of the critical questions they must get answered is:

"What is the availability and timeline of our EHR vendor?"

REACH has collected a great deal of information on the leading EHR vendors and their plans for availability of their Meaningful Use Stage 1 EHR releases. Availability and timelines vary considerably across vendors. A vendor's answer to the question could be fourth quarter 2010, first or second quarter 2011, or in some cases it's an even later date. Many EHR vendors are under considerable pressure to meet the current demand for implementation and/or upgraded services within the timeframe for meeting Meaningful Use Stage 1 criteria.

Three of the factors impacting the EHR vendor community's readiness are:

• Each vendor's resource limitations
• Software modifications required to address the meaningful use criteria
• Process of applying for and successfully completing the EHR certification process through one of the three ONC– Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCB)

The Certified HIT Product List (CHPL) is the official source for identifying those EHRs and EHR modules that have been tested and certified under the ONC's Temporary Certification Program.

At this time, REACH encourages providers and hospitals to:

• Include the initial implementation and/or upgrade timeline question in your request for information/proposal (RFI or RFP) process and assume that availability of a new release may be a bit later than promised by the vendor
• Attend vendor specific user group discussions to gain access to current and practical information regarding future meaningful use releases and fixes required
• Recognize that if you intend to apply for Medicare Meaningful Use incentives for fourth quarter 2011 (October - December 2011) your certified EHR must be operational July - September 2011 (third quarter 2011) at the very latest
• When implementing a new EHR product, implement on the ONC-ATCB certified release. Do not implement on a release that must undergo an upgrade in the near future to meet Meaningful Use Stage 1 criteria
• When negotiating your vendor contract, get the vendor's implementation/meaningful use upgrade timeline in writing with a financial commitment if the vendor fails to meet its contractual deadline (e.g. a rebate, partial refund, free extension of the service agreement, etc.)

REACH is vendor neutral and will work with any certified vendor product.

Article by Bill Sonterre, REACH regional coordinator, and Shirley Eichenwald-Maki, College of St. Scholastica assistant professor Department of Healthcare Informatics and Information Management Office.