10 questions to help you vet Clinical Data Exchange vendors

Choosing a clinical data exchange vendor can feel overwhelming. How do you know which vendors will measure up to your stringent data security and privacy standards? How do you know if a vendor will be able to flex with you as your data release policies, procedures, and needs evolve? How can you ensure you’ll be working with a highly responsive team of experts who can meet your technical and operational needs today—and in the future? 

Before you hire your next clinical data exchange vendor, be sure to get answers to these 10 questions:

1. How does your solution comply with our current policies and procedures and how will you flex as they evolve, and new state and national regulations emerge?

   You need a vendor who really understands EHRs, follows regulations, has extensive configuration capabilities, and can provide very discrete filtering. For example, can they filter by note type or specialty? If your state restricts how or if you can share sensitive data (e.g., HIV or other test results), make sure your vendor can comply.

2. How many of our requestors can you work with?

   If a vendor doesn’t currently work with some of your requestors, find out how they plan to connect with them.

3. How will we know the status of requests?

   You want to ensure your vendor is fully committed to transparency and provides an easy way for you to track the status of all requests coming into your system, as well as those that are fulfilled or are stuck.

4. How do you ensure the privacy and security of our patient data?

   It’s one thing for a prospective vendor to tell you they’re committed to securing your data and protecting patient privacy; it’s another to have a third party tell you how they accomplish that.

5. For health systems: How do you connect into our EHR and ensure a scalable integration?

   Find out the vendor’s integration strategy with your EHR. For example, does the vendor use APIs approved by your EHR? If your EHR has a program for third-party connectors, like Cerner’s Code Platform or Epic’s App Orchard, ask if the vendor participates in those programs.

6. For health systems: What relationship do you have with payers?

   Vendors should be transparent and willing to connect to as many payers as possible. Does the vendor partner directly with the payers? How often does the vendor update the payer on status of chart requests?

7. What is your approach to customer support beginning with implementation?

   Seek a vendor who is committed to your success—beginning with implementation and after you go live—by providing you with a seasoned team that can troubleshoot and advise you every step of the way.

8. What does your issue resolution process look like?

   Make sure your vendor has a proven process to help you resolve issues as they will arise.

9. Can you share the results of your most recent technical audit?

   External audits can reassure you that a vendor can be trusted to facilitate the exchange of clinical data. If a vendor hasn’t been audited, find out why.

10. What is your company’s biggest differentiator?

    Find out what the vendor sees as their strengths and assess how that matches your organization’s needs and goals. 

Are there other questions you’d add to this list? Or, if you’re interested in knowing how Moxe answers these questions, we’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note here.