Introduction: The Southwest Clinic in Corpus Christi has operated with an electronic billing system, a free EMR (Practice Fusion) and receive labs from LabCorp via designated printer. They are dissatisfied and are looking for a replacement that is more comprehensive and integrated. The clinic employs 10 primary docs, with 30 support staff, including 2 PAs. They are considering participating in an accountable care organization (ACO) and need to know what is required from a IT standpoint. Furthermore they need to be able to cost-effectively refer to specialists. The town has a Health Information Exchange, two medium sized hospitals and a community health clinic.

Task: Develop a business plan and implementation strategy for selecting the appropriate EMR. Consider the following -there may be others you deem important

1. Quantify current dissatisfaction
2. Describe needs that are not met with current system
3. List the additional demands an ACO will put on the practice
4. Process of vendor selection ( consider at least 5 vendors) appropriate for the work they do; include the final candidate and rationale
5. Implementation timeline (staged??)
6. Interview with content expert
7. Cost estimates and break even analysis over time
8. Operating costs (monthly ??)
9. Components of implementation
10. Transition costs (data loss?? Production impact??)
11. Training and familiarization
12. Security and back up considerations (cost)
13. Measurement and results
14. Specifics on ACO needs that will be met by new system
15. Your conclusions and recommendations