More and more EMR vendors are offering confused and wary providers an offer they might find difficult to refuse: a money-back guarantee.
That time-tested pitch may seem more at home on TV infomercials, but it's gaining currency in the healthcare IT industry as vendors seek to reassure nervous docs and CIOs that their products will meet meaningful use and win stimulus money for their practices.
"In the current environment, choosing a technology that will meet meaningful use standards is paramount if a practice wants governmental assistance in purchasing that system," says Steve Emery, director of product management for Alpharetta, Ga.-based HealthPort. "We want potential customers to know we're committed to making sure our system has all the functionality that will allow them to 'meaningfully use' our product."
"We want to make sure doctors can be confident about making their choice," echoes Kirk Aubry, COO of gloStream, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based maker of Windows-based EMRs. "For many of them, technology represents an unknown. The EMR space needs to be an area that's a source of comfort for them instead of a source of concern. So we introduced this guarantee to make sure there's no question about whether our solution will qualify for the stimulus dollars."
Indeed, as the recent report titled Ambulatory EMR Buying: A Roller Coaster Ride in 2010 pointed out, the sheer number of EMR systems can be daunting to the uninitiated, with one observer likening the market to the "Wild West." Big vendors (Allscripts, eClinicalWorks) attract the most notice, but many smaller practices are intrigued by the offerings of lesser known vendors.
In that chaotic marketplace, setting oneself apart from the pack is important, say Mark Kozak, vice president of business development at SuiteMed, an Oakland, Calif.-based maker of EMR and practice management software.
"We've found that many physicians are interested in moving toward adoption of an integrated PMS/EMR product such as SuiteMed but are concerned about the somewhat unsettled nature of the industry with the final decisions on meaningful use still to be made," says Kozak. "A guarantee that our system will meet those requirements would set their mind at ease and free them up to purchase the system that they feel will best meet their requirements without the worry of applicability to the stimulus payments program."
Indeed, in recent comments filed with the Office of the National Coordinator, members of the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) made the point that, given the "current instability in the health IT marketplace," especially with regard to certification, vendors should offer providers assurance that their product can help achieve meaningful use.
A doctor doesn't simply buy an EMR and plug it in, of course. They're "complex products requiring extensive training and support to ensure a successful outcome," says Kozak. That's why, in order to ensure SuiteMed eliminates any risk of forfeiting money should its products fail to net stimulus money, "we focus quite extensively on the delivery of a superior implementation and training program."
For his part, Aubrey says the "gloDNA" implementation process – from initial consult to the intensive practice-wide evaluation to the post-installation customer support of its Microsoft-certified VARs – is crucial, not just to adoption but to retention. "
The dirty little secret of EMRs is the failure rate, depending on who you track, is somewhere between 30 and 40 percent," says Aubrey. "Either they've been de-installed, or the doctor doesn't use the product. That's an extremely high number. Our success rate is a hundred percent. Everybody who's ever bought gloEMR continues to use it today." As more docs adopt EMRs once their misgivings are assuaged by pledges like these, of course, the hope is that number holds steady.
Since offering the money-back promise, Kozak says that the "interest level has increased significantly" from potential customers. "Physicians seem interested in examining alternatives to some of the more heavily advertised products out there."
Adds Aubrey: "To a certain extent, at this stage in the development in the market, there's a certain amount of fear: 'Am I picking the right player?' We're trying to make sure they can have confidence that they did. Because we're going to guarantee it."
