HIT Systems Planning/Information Requirements

As the manager of CTU Health Care Systems, you have done your research on three vendors to which you would like to outsource the implementation of the electronic health records (EHRs) for the clinics. As the manager, you have a number of critical decisions regarding the electronic medical record systems. At first, you thought you could either implement the existing EHR system at the other acute care organization or implement an entirely new EHR in both facilities.

You met with your staff, and after researching several companies that offered both products and services, you have solicited request for proposals (RFPs) from the following three companies:

• ABC      Systems Consulting, the leading company in health care systems integration      services, refused to bid on the systems integration required for bringing      the current EHR system into the other organization. This was because of      the risks and time requirements for designing, implementing, and testing      the large number of interfaces required and the required time line for the      completion of the project as identified by the client.
• XYZ      EHR Systems proposed that its new, recently redeveloped EHR be implemented      in both facilities, which included a computerized physician order entry      (CPOE) module, standardized drug interaction alert functionality, and      customizable clinical alert functionality. It estimated that the merged      entity would get a much better price than $50 million for purchasing this      new system. Unfortunately, XYZ was unable to provide evidence of      successful installation of its recently redeveloped EHR system at a      similarly large delivery network or anywhere.
• QRS      EHR Systems, a leading provider of EHR systems for large acute care      facilities, proposed that its EHR be installed in both acute care      organizations with a $50–60 million price tag. QRS included a CPOE module,      standardized drug interaction alert functionality, as well as      evidence-based clinical alert functionality. QRS also had a physician      office EHR system with an embedded patient registration system; however,      QRS has had minimal experience with integrating the physician office      registration system with the acute care (hospital) registration system—an      integration feature that was a priority for this project based on the      client’s information technology (IT) strategic plan.

The stakes surrounding your recommendation to the chief information officer (CIO) and chief executive officer (CEO) could not be higher in terms of dollars and your career.

Discuss the following in your paper of 3-4 pages, not including title page and reference page:

• What      pieces of information are the most critical for your decision on selecting      the right vendor?
• What      other options, if any, do you have?
• What      are the critical success factors in the case?
• What      are your recommendations to the CIO and CEO based on the RFPs that you      received?