A recent blog post by an EHR IT specialist outlines 20 different roles that a company developing EHR, EMR or HIS software must fill. The list is a sobering reminder of the vast array of tasks that EHR vendors must address before their product is ready for primetime use among healthcare providers.
Some of the roles on the list are general IT needs, like useability experts and database administrators. But others are unique to healthcare IT, like the ominous reference to "HL7 and healthcare data integration conformance engineers". That's the kind of specialized role that is both crucial to EHR development and subject to the greatest competitive pressures. What are the odds of finding an IT professional who can just glide into that role?
With many IT departments under-manned due to intense competition for talent and with so many "must-have" skill sets jockeying for those limited resources, many EHR vendors are making strategic decisions about where their tech staff should be spending its time. One way to free up resources is to partner with a drug information vendor that offers robust APIs which can speed the development of clinical decision support systems. Lexicomp is one such company that offers thorough API support for functionality like drug-drug interaction checking, drug-allergy interaction checking, duplicate therapy, and a myriad of reference look-ups. It's one quick way to get a jumpstart on much of the functionality required by HITECH "Meaningful Use" regulations.
Likewise, many EHR vendors are also adding on pre-certified ePrescribing or CPOE modules, rather than developing their own right now. These are "stand-alone" modules that already have SureScripts certification, and which can be integrated quickly into any EHR platform. DoseSpot is a good example of a company which can offer this.
Both of these options can ease the IT crunch and get your EHR market-ready sooner. Without these options, many EHR vendors may find themselves at the back of the pack when it comes time to sign up customers or qualify users for incentive dollars.
Some of the roles on the list are general IT needs, like useability experts and database administrators. But others are unique to healthcare IT, like the ominous reference to "HL7 and healthcare data integration conformance engineers". That's the kind of specialized role that is both crucial to EHR development and subject to the greatest competitive pressures. What are the odds of finding an IT professional who can just glide into that role?
With many IT departments under-manned due to intense competition for talent and with so many "must-have" skill sets jockeying for those limited resources, many EHR vendors are making strategic decisions about where their tech staff should be spending its time. One way to free up resources is to partner with a drug information vendor that offers robust APIs which can speed the development of clinical decision support systems. Lexicomp is one such company that offers thorough API support for functionality like drug-drug interaction checking, drug-allergy interaction checking, duplicate therapy, and a myriad of reference look-ups. It's one quick way to get a jumpstart on much of the functionality required by HITECH "Meaningful Use" regulations.
Likewise, many EHR vendors are also adding on pre-certified ePrescribing or CPOE modules, rather than developing their own right now. These are "stand-alone" modules that already have SureScripts certification, and which can be integrated quickly into any EHR platform. DoseSpot is a good example of a company which can offer this.
Both of these options can ease the IT crunch and get your EHR market-ready sooner. Without these options, many EHR vendors may find themselves at the back of the pack when it comes time to sign up customers or qualify users for incentive dollars.
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As you said," With many IT departments under-manned due to intense competition for talent and with so many "must-have" skill sets jockeying for those limited resources, many EHR vendors are making strategic decisions about where their tech staff should be spending its time. One way to free up resources is to partner with a drug information vendor that offers robust APIs which can speed the development of clinical decision support systems. Lexicomp is one such company that offers thorough API support for functionality like drug-drug interaction checking, drug-allergy interaction checking, duplicate therapy, and a myriad of reference look-ups. It's one quick way to get a jumpstart on much of the functionality required by HITECH "Meaningful Use" regulations."
But on top of all that, is the easy to use data structure. Sometimes we forget that.