For this two-part Assignment, analyze vendors who compete in the HIT  software marketplace using the Independent Physician Office Ambulatory EMR Scenario in your Learning Resources. After assessing the capabilities and limitations of at least three possible vendor solutions, for Part 2, you will make a recommendation to your leadership team colleagues on which one or two vendors you would feel most comfortable progressing toward the next steps of system acquisition. Keep in mind that choosing two solutions allows the organization to have potential leverage in negotiations. If your recommendation is one vendor, how do you justify this recommendation?

To Prepare for this Assignment:
 
 -Review the Independent Physician Office Scenario in your Learning Resources.

 -Select three vendors after reviewing the HealthIT.gov list and the KLAS reports provided in the Learning Resources.The Assignment—Part 1: Compare and contrast the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of three vendors offering an ambulatory Electronic Health Record to independent physician practices. Construct a table that summarizes your SWOT analysis with an accompanying reference listing any external resources used in your analysis. Comparisons should include quantitative/evidence-based information as well as qualitative.

The Assignment—Part 2: a twopage executive summary outlining the one or two IT vendors that you recommend engaging for further acquisition activities such as stakeholder demos and request for proposals. The executive summary should be addressed to the members of your fellow executive leadership team. Be sure to clearly outline the strategic, operational, technical (IT) requirements, and market reasons for your recommendation. If you are recommending one vendor, justify your strategy to handle the organizations' anticipated loss in negotiating leverage.

Partners in Health Care Associates (PHC) are a four-physician practice located in the Midwestern United States. Three physicians are board certified in internal medicine and a fourth is certified in geriatrics. The practice also has a full-time nurse practitioner, three part-time nurses, two medical assistants, and two front desk staff. Due to changes in physician leadership, the practice no longer has a functioning ambulatory electronic health record. There is a legacy physician practice management system in place for billing and scheduling which is no longer supported by the vendor but does process electronic claims. Current State The practice has not been able to participate in the CMS Meaningful Use program and is being assessed 5% reimbursement penalties on Medicare patient payments. Likewise, two commercial payers are offering pay for performance incentives for managing panels of patients with diabetes and asthma, but PHC cannot participate due to their inability to produce the required health maintenance clinical reporting for the program. The practice has an existing practice management system that does patient scheduling and automated claims submission via EDI (electronic data interfacing). This vendor system is unsupported and must be replaced as part of the search for an electronic health record. The goal of the practice is to be able to be financially and clinically viable and compliant with the CMS Meaningful Use phase 1 and 2 programs and prepared for Meaningful Use phase 3. Software vendors who have sold products to other physicians in the area have approached the medical director and administrator of the practice. These vendors include Practice Fusion and Next Gen. Recently a colleague of the medical director who has a practice in California is recommending that he examine a product called Athena. In addition, the Chief Medical Officer of Green Valley Regional Health System has approached PCH offering to implement and support Green Valley's Epic Care product in this practice under an affiliate agreement. There is also an option to run an MSO (Management Services Option) of Green Valley's Epic Practice Management suite for billing and scheduling. While PHC is an independently owned physician practice they refer about 65% of their patients to facilities and specialists of Green Valley. Currently PCH's practice management system is non-supported by the vendor. Front desk office staffs have become very proficient in using this software to schedule patients, submit claims and follow up on denials. Office IT operations such as email printing and a basic website are run by a local information technology company who provides the services to PCH for a monthly fee.