4 Things To Consider When Leaving Your Current Practice Software Vendor
Imagine getting into a committed relationship with someone for a long time. You buy a home and fill it up with nice things and maybe you even have children or pets. Then over the course of time, you find out that you’re not the best fit to be together any longer. In today’s society, this is quite common. It also happens to be a massive undertaking to party ways amicably & emotionally draining.
Similarly, it can be just as painful for practices that want to divorce from their current vendor. However, because of the initial terms that were agreed upon, it’s very difficult to part ways. In some sense, it’s as if you’re being held hostage.
There are a number of reasons why a practice might want to divorce their software provider. For starters, perhaps the customer service and response time is really poor. Or worse, the software isn’t aligned with your clinical workflows causing gaps in care. Another reason could be because the software might be too complicated and non-user friendly to navigate. One that came up recently was the inability to aggregate the “right” data into insightful reports to help manage the practice more effectively.
Here’s What Happens if You Decide To Move On
When it’s all said & done, you make the tough decision to move on to another vendor. Of course, this has come after a lot of due diligence, test driving the new software & seeing how strong the technology platform is to meet your requirements. It’s very likely that your new new vendor will ask if you have access to your data. And you ‘ll say “Well, I think so… “
Great, ask your old vendor for a complete backup of your data so you can move forward by taking that data and populating into your new system with it.
No problem, right?
Well, if it were only that simple. However, it’s not even close to being that simple.
Surprise! Your current vendor drags their feet because they don’t want a long time paying customer to leave them so they throw every conceivable obstacle in front of you.
As the provider you might be thinking, “but wait, I thought it was my data?”
The vendor then says, “It is, however, you have to pay us in order to get it back.”
Obviously, this is frustrating. You want to get out of a bad relationship, which has already cost you time & energy. What’s more, now you’ll have to pay even more to get out of this relationship.
You might be thinking, why?
Typically, when you sign an agreement with a software vendor there might be a clause that looks something like this:
- Termination. Either party may terminate this Agreement if the other fails to cure a material breach of the Agreement within thirty (30) days after receiving written notice of the breach. We reserve the right, but assume no obligation, to suspend performance immediately if you are more than thirty (30) days overdue in payments or as provided for in Section 7 (“Compliance with Laws”). If this agreement is terminated for any reason, we agree that the information and data that is owned by you that is stored on the Vendor hosted servers, shall be returned to you in a electronic format with in sixty (60) business days from the date of such termination. The data will be provided in two separate files: a) a zip file with all Office Visit notes in a format that is used by you in uploading such information into the hosting system, and in a PDF Format, and b) an Excel file containing a copy of each of the data tables (patients, medications, co-morbidities, etc.), and such other information or in a format that is mutually acceptable to the parties. If the data needs to be converted to a specific format, Vendor shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to perform the task for a fee not to exceed $1,000.00 Vendor Inc. actual cost of such retrieval.
Make Sure You Have A Clause in the SLA About Data Being Delivered In A Timely Manner
In addition to this particular clause about the data you might want to make sure you have a Service Level Agreement, otherwise known as an (SLA) in place that spells out any consequence if the vendor does not comply with you the provider after you ask for your data and to be delivered in a timely manner. It's always best to have this clause in the agreement before you move forward with your vendor.
Service Level and Limited Remedy. We will provide you with the Service Level described in the applicable Service Descriptions, provided that you meet the requirements listed in the Service Description for the Service Level Agreement. EXCEPT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO TERMINATE AS SET FORTH IN SECTION 11 BELOW, THE SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT IS THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR FAILURE OR DEFECT OF SERVICES. ACCESS TO THE NETWORK CANNOT BE GUARANTEED TO YOU OR ANY END USERS. END USERS MAY BE UNABLE TO ACCESS THE SERVICE AT ANY GIVEN TIME, AND DISCONNECTIONS MAY OCCUR FROM TIME TO TIME. YOU AGREE THAT WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT YOU OR YOUR END USERS MAY INCUR ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.
The battle continues on when trying to secure your data when you are switching from one vendor to another.
Software Vendor Relationships Are Made or Broken in the Beginning, NOT the End.
Even when you’re thinking about moving to another vendor, this area must be discussed up front because it has serious consequences to providers. It can be a grave mistake if you don’t discuss this when drawing up a contract.
Holding a provider and medical practice hostage over data rights just doesn’t seem right to me.
Does it feel right to you? My hunch is that it doesn’t..
Here are some important things to ponder upon:
- Protect your practice with a contract that clearly spells out how and when your vendor can use patient data.
- Do I own the data?
- Will you use my data for financial gain on your part?
- How easy is it to get my data if we terminate our relationship?
- How much will it cost to get my data?
- Understand what (SLA) means, Service Level Agreement?
- How responsive will you be to my needs?
The Agreement With A New Software Vendor Must Be About More Than Just Negotiating Price.
To make it a win, win situation for the provider and the vendor -- maybe the doctor would suggest that the vendor reduce the price of services in exchange for the ability to mine data as long as it is de-indentified information about the patient.
Concluding Thoughts
Physician dissatisfaction with software vendors are running high and many physicians are looking to change to a 2nd 3rd or even 4th software system. The critical question to consider is, “How do I go about migrating data if I choose to make this change?”
Consider thinking about this vendor & buisness relationship as a prenuptual agreement. Protect your practice and your patients information if you have to part ways in the future..
Beyond data ownership questions, switching vendors requires many considerations such as migrating data that’s formatted in a useable way for a new system.
Are you thinking about changing vendors?
Perhaps it might make sense to set appropriate expectations. More specifically, that it might be expensive, disruptive and filled with technical issues related to data conversion. However, in most cases it is still the best decision your practice will make.
What other challenges have you faced when divorcing your clinic’s software provider?