Drawn from data from the eHealth Initiative (eHI) annual survey of 196 HIE initiatives, the just released “2011 HIE Vendors: An Evolving Market” report presents a mixed picture of vendor services provided by 35 different HIT vendors. Overall, groups were satisfied with the services provided by their vendors. Yet, nearly a quarter of respondents are still planning on re-evaluating their vendor in the next 12 months because of poor customer service, configuration and implementation issues, and cost, according to the eHI survey.
In addition, other key findings are:
• Vendors need to provide platform flexibility and experience, but cost was a distant third according to the survey
• Most HIE initiatives report outsourcing the technical work and some or all of the project management responsibilities to their HIE vendor
• HIE investments vary widely with 55 respondents spending less than $100,000 while 23 spent more than $900,000
“While most HIEs (75 percent) appear satisfied with their vendors, 25 percent are having second thoughts and plan to reevaluate their vendor contracts. Clearly everyone is keeping a close watch to make sure that vendors deliver. Fortunately, in most cases they do but these implementations are tough and there are bumps in the road,” said Jennifer Covich Bordenick, CEO at eHealth Initiative.
The report does not recommend or endorse any specific organizations, but eHI provides a list of the vendors that different initiatives selected. The list is available at www.ehealthinitiative.org.
