Assessing a product based on CCHIT Standards

Review the ONC (U. S. Office of the National Coordinator) standards for inpatient EHR products.

Use the 170.302 General Criteria, or 170.304 Ambulatory Criteria, or both for your standards analysis.

Imagine that you are a HIM director serving on the hospital's committee to choose our next EHR purchase. Four vendors have provided written material on their products and are offering to provide demonstrations live to our staff of how their systems work. They all have good reputations with other providers. We know that the vendors will focus on the "strengths" of their particular system, but how will we know that they are the best system for us?

We decide as a committee to review the ONC standards first (see above).

Prepare a checklist of criteria for evaluating the systems against the standards. Apply 5-6 of the ONC criteria in your questions. Also create 8-10 additional questions of your own that you would ask the EHR vendors, which are not covered in the ONC criteria. You may need to do a web search on how physician offices can evaluate EHRs for selection.

In addition to your checklists, prepare a paper of 2-3 pages long covering your vendor decision process:

• How do you think EHRs should be compared by our selection committee?
• How will a final decision be communicated to the staff of your hospital organization?