RHIO beware: technology procurement ain't easy

RHIO beware: technology procurement ain’t easy

By Patty Enrado, Editor Dennis Gallitano

ORLANDO, Fla. - Once regional health information organizations, or RHIOs, establish governance, privacy and other policies, the next difficult move is purchasing the technology to exchange health information, according to Dennis Gallitano, partner at Gallitano & O’Connor LLP.

“How you go about it is exciting,” he said, but the process is fraught with risk and lack of vision and understanding. “A lot of RHIOs have no clue technology-wise how to pull this all together.”

In the interactive roundtable, RHIOs Stage 2 - Negotiating Your Technology Solution, on Monday, Feb. 25, 10 AM - 11 AM, Gallitano will be joined by Gilad Kuperman, MD, chairperson of NYCLIX, and Paul Conocenti, CIO of NYU Medical Center.

NYCLIX, a health information exchange in New York City, will be used as a case study to define the common architectural features and aspects of technology for RHIOs.

What many RHIOs have found during the request for proposal phase, said Gallitano, is a lot of vaporware and unfounded promises. Additionally, multiple vendors in the market have created a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario.

“The most important ingredient is to have one prime contractor,” Gallitano said. RHIOs can then understand how various technology components, such as the record locator service, can bring additional value.

Ultimately, RHIOs need a procurement blueprint, which includes how to structure service-level agreements and negotiate infrastructure support and maintenance, he said.

It takes four to six months to fully vet issues, according to Gallitano. “You have to purchase technology with an eye to success,” he said, and that means designing the technology infrastructure with growth or merging in mind. “You have to think in advance of what the RHIO is doing now.”