EHR Decisions

While “Is your product CCHIT Certified®?” should be the first question you ask, it is important to remember that there are still a number of questions that will help you select the best EHR for your organization.

Here are ten additional areas to question as you work through your EHR purchasing decision:

1. Tell me about your company. How long have you been in business? How many employees do you have doing development and offering technical service?
2. How many physician practices do you serve? What size are they? May I speak with a few of them?
3. How do you license your product—for a term or perpetually, by physician or user?
4. What are your maintenance or support fees? Do they cover product upgrades?
5. What are your service policies and guarantees?
6. In addition to what I can expect from CCHIT Certified interoperability, what will I pay for other desired interfaces to products or sources of information?
7. Are there third-party costs for modules or components bundled with your product? Will I need to buy some third-party products independently to make your product perform as demonstrated?
8. Tell me about your implementation and training services. What do they cost? How long will it take until my practice is successfully up and running using your product?
9. Are you willing to put these terms in a sales agreement?
10. What are your plans for staying up-to-date with CCHIT’s certification requirements?