EHR Consult

Welcome to the EHR Consult section of the VITL website. Here you will find advice from Vermont physicians who are early and successful adopters of electronic health records systems.

 
Selection Process

With hundreds of EHRs on the market, making the right choice may seem daunting. But this advice from three Vermont physicians who were early adopters of EHRs will help make the selection process easier.

  • Get an overview of the entire market. If you plan on getting federal incentive money, look at the list of certified EHRs as only those qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs. VITL publishes a list of its preferred partner vendors. Also, look at vendor websites and check out demonstrations at conferences, like the VITL Summit. VITL has recorded demonstrations for leading vendors on its website.
     
  • Listen to what others are saying. The American Academy of Family Physicians has EHR reviews and email discussion lists on its website (for AAFP members only). KLAS and other companies publish reports compiled from user surveys.
     
  • Know what you are looking for. At White River Family Practice in White River Junction, Vt., an EHR search committee was formed with representation from each area of the practice. Members of the search committee solicited information from co-workers about their wants and must haves in an EHR. The committee then used this checklist to narrow down the choices.
     
  • Develop a demo scenario. At Evergreen Family Health in Williston, Vt., they developed a complete scenario of a diabetic encounter and then watched as each vendor showed how that encounter would be documented in its EHR. This enabled a more direct comparison of products.
     
  • Demos are important, but don’t rely entirely on them. An inexperienced sales representative may not show a product well in a demo, while an experienced sales person can make a system look better than it is. So it is important not to just pick a system that looked best in the demo. Find out from other physicians using the system under consideration how it works and what they think of it. VITL can provide names of other Vermont users.
     
  • Do site visits for the top contenders. White River Family Practice attended six demos, then made site visits to the two finalists. After choosing a preferred vendor, they made a site visit to the vendor’s corporate headquarters to make sure the company’s philosophy aligned with the practice’s.
     
  • Compare pricing. After doing site visits, the choice for Winooski Family Health in Winooski, Vt., came down to determining which EHR was going to be more cost effective for the practice. VITL can provide a pricing comparison for the vendors on its preferred EHR partners list.

 

There is much more to the process of selecting an EHR vendor and negotiating contracts. VITL’s experienced EHR implementation specialists can work with you to find the right product for your practice and get the best deal possible. To learn more about VITL’s services, click here or contact Larry Gilbert at 802-839-1943 or email lgilbert@vitl.net