Practice Management Alert

Arm yourself with this handy list when you talk to vendors

Making sure you get concrete answers to all of your questions is critical when you-re choosing an EHR software vendor and system.

Add the following questions to your list to ensure you-re getting the best system for your practice:

- Is the entire EHR system HIPAA-compliant?

- How are upgrades handled? Are they included in the initial cost? How often are upgrades performed? Do they require much system downtime and a new version of the software? It's important to check on how often the company will perform upgrades, the cost of those upgrades and the service level of the provider.

- What training and follow-up support does the company provide to the office staff? How long does the vendor provide training? Do you get second-tier training after software is set up?

- What are the costs: initial, upgrade, customization, maintenance, integration, etc.?

- Does the system recognize all the procedure and diagnosis codes your practice uses?

- Can employees work on patient records at various locations? Does the EHR system support multiple offices and/or multiple providers?

- Are there multiple ways to access, view, organize and report on data stored in the system?

- Are labs, x-rays, and other types of information easy to manage and access?

- For a system that allows automatic E/M code calculations: Does it consider medical necessity in the calculation? If not, can a physician override a system if medical necessity doesn't support the calculated E/M code?