Rethink: Vendor Solutions Must Work on Your Terms

If you’ve ever tried to build something complicated—such as custom bookcases that fit a specific space in your home—you understand the challenges involved in such a project. Not only must the project fit within the existing space, it must appear to match the style and finish of whatever else is already present. Maybe you’ve tried a semi-custom approach but been frustrated when the pre-cut pieces don’t fit precisely together or exactly accommodate your existing space.

It’s no different for technical staff who must build IT infrastructures to support healthcare organizations’ patient engagement and revenue cycle management goals. Working within the boundaries of an EHR system already in place, they must find ways to integrate best-of-breed solutions from different vendors while ensuring everything works seamlessly together.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes the results are just so-so!

There are some important factors that can tip the odds in IT’s favor. Most critically, solutions from disparate vendors should be designed with interoperability in mind. This means vendors must rethink how they build solutions from the start.

Vendor solutions must be built to offer streamlined integration with interfaces and APIs. Automated processes also should be designed to work specifically with your organization’s existing EHR. And the vendors who offer these solutions should have proven integration track records.

Finding vendors who believe in designing solutions with an open solutions architecture should be a priority. A proven commitment to a “plug and play” approach means these vendors are putting the best interests of your organization ahead of their own. They must be more concerned with your organization achieving the most efficient and seamless workflow than with capturing more of your IT spend.

Since it’s possible to obtain everything necessary for your IT infrastructure from one vendor, you may wonder why it’s even necessary to integrate multiple products or systems from a variety of sources. The answer is simple: without integration it’s nearly impossible to meet accuracy and efficiency objectives in critical workflows like payment collection or patient registration.

In today’s multi-system ecosystem, the onus is on vendors to rethink their solutions to ensure they are designed to fit seamlessly with your existing patient engagement and revenue cycle management infrastructures. And, most importantly, any vendor solution you choose must improve workflows for the benefit of your organization and patients.

Read more about this topic in our mini white paper, Interoperability by Design.