Preferred Partners Application

Preferred Partners Application

As a regional extension center, VITL has developed a process to screen vendors seeking partnership status. Please watch this short video for a description of how the preferred partners program operates, and how vendors can apply to participate.

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Preferred Technology Services Partners

Preferred Services Partners

 

Preferred EHR Partners

VITL is charged with helping physicians adopt EHRs and achieve Meaningful Use by 2012. In our efforts to speed adoption, VITLs has established a short list of vendors that have expressed an interest in helping us accomplish our goals. If you are an EHR vendor and are interested in being added to that list, please review the following material:

Preferred EHR Partner designation is a non‐exclusive arrangement and means that a vendor has agreed to meet certain prerequisites deemed necessary to ensure that the most possible physicians will achieve Meaningful Use by 2012. Preferred EHR Partners will be able to market their products as such, and VITL will include Preferred EHR Partners in its outreach and marketing efforts.

To be eligible for consideration as a Preferred EHR Partner, you must have successfully participated in the IHE Connectathon and provide an Integration Statement from IHE. In addition, please complete the VITL Interoperability Survey. Please contact us if you have any questions.

We also ask that you provide a written letter of intent explaining your compliance with the following criteria:

  • Your EHR is ONC certified, and you agree to maintain certification for the product;
     
  • The EHR includes any functionality necessary to meet Meaningful Use ‐‐ such as e‐prescribing and quality reporting, and any Meaningful Use functionality to be defined in the future. Upgrades to meet Meaningful Use shall be at no charge to the EHR client and you will contractually guarantee this to Vermont practices purchasing your solution.
     
  • The EHR price includes 8 standards‐based interfaces to/from the Vermont HIEN: lab orders, lab results, radiology orders, radiology results, ADT, immunization registry, CCD, and Vermont BluePrint for Health. This price covers implementation of the interfaces and annual maintenance.
     
  • You must assign a single project manager for Vermont practices;
     
  • You must provide a statement of corporate commitment to support success of VITL’s efforts to promote EHR adoption in Vermont; this may include a commitment to such activities as participating in VITL events such as EHR demo day and the annual VITL Summit, and working with VITL on co‐branded marketing efforts,
     
  • You are staffed to begin implementation projects with Vermont practices within thirty days of their signing a contract with you.
     
  • If you are chosen as a Preferred EHR Partner, your pricing must be transparent and nonconfidential so public cost‐comparisons are possible. Please download and complete a cost spreadsheet for a three provider practice. Please fill this out completely and return it, with your letter of intent. VITL will share this information with providers. Additionally, you must agree to work with VITL to develop standard contract terms and conditions for all Vermont providers. Please attach standard contracts to your submission letter. Please recognize that practices are extremely price sensitive. We encourage you to provide pricing that will encourage serious consideration of your product.
     
  • You must provide a list of five references of small practices in Vermont or New England.
     

Consideration and announcement of Preferred EHR Partner status can occur at any time so you are not precluded from future consideration if you do not meet the requirements at this time. When you have demonstrated compliance with the above pre‐requisites, VITL will notify you and also inform Vermont providers of your preferred status and pricing. VITL may revoke Preferred EHR Partner status at any time.

To recap, we are seeking a letter of intent, costs as outlined above, and a copy of your standard license, hosting and support contracts. Please provide the documentation via one hardcopy and email to:
Larry Gilbert
Director of Outreach and Business Development
Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc.
144 Main Street, Suite 1
Montpelier, VT 05602
lgilbert@vitl.net

 

Preferred Technology Services Partners

The “Preferred Technology Services Partner” designation is a non-exclusive arrangement and means that a vendor has agreed to meet certain prerequisites deemed necessary to ensure that the greatest number of physicians possible will achieve meaningful use by 2012. Preferred Technology Services Partners will be able to market their products and services as such, and VITL will include Preferred Technology Services Partners in its outreach and marketing efforts.
To be eligible for consideration as a Preferred Technology Services Partner, please provide a written letter of intent explaining your compliance with the following criteria:

  • Your company offers discounted pricing for all Vermont physician practices*;
     
  • Your company has extensive experience working with small physician practices;
     
  • Your company is able to provide a thorough technical assessment of a practice’s current status;
     
  • Your company is able to purchase, configure and implement all aspects of hardware required for EHR deployment (this is does not include the work that the EHR vendor will perform);
     
  • Your company must be able to complete the VITL Network Security Checklist

 

*Your pricing should discuss your hourly rate for configuration, implementation and support. We are assuming that actual hardware pricing among all vendors is comparable, so hardware quotes are not needed. However, if you do have a relationship with a hardware vendor that can be leveraged to benefit Vermont practices, please describe.

Consideration and announcement of Preferred Technology Services Partner status can occur at anytime so you are not precluded from future consideration if you do not meet the requirements at this time. When you have demonstrated compliance with the above prerequisites, VITL will notify you and also inform Vermont providers of your preferred status and pricing. VITL may revoke Preferred Technology Services Partner status at any time.

To recap, we are seeking a letter of intent as outlined above. Please provide the documentation via one hardcopy and email to:
Larry Gilbert
Director of Outreach and Business Development
Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc.
144 Main Street, Suite 1
Montpelier, VT 05602
lgilbert@vitl.net

 

Preferred Services Partners

The “Preferred Services Partner” designation is a non-exclusive arrangement and means that a vendor has agreed to meet certain prerequisites deemed necessary to ensure that the greatest number of physicians possible will achieve meaningful use by 2012. Preferred Services Partners will be able to market their products and services as such, and VITL will include Preferred Services Partners in its outreach and marketing efforts.

To be eligible for consideration as a Preferred Services Partner, please provide a written letter of intent explaining your compliance with the following criteria:

Qualifications

  • Must propose their area of expertise(s), e.g., change management; clinical transformation; project management; interface development
  • Identify individuals by name with the expertise and provide resumes
     
  • Organizational expertise should be 5 years +
     
  • Prefer certification in area of expertise as appropriate
     
  • Must have active professional liability coverage (E&O)
     
  • Must be willing to comply with documents specifying confidentiality, security, privacy, etc. (e.g., HIPAA Business Associate Agreement, Non-Disclosure)
     
  • Service provider should be vendor agnostic (work with multiple hardware and software vendors) and not bias EHR selection.
     

Costs

  • Must provide discounted pricing to Vermont practices
     

References

  • Need to provide 3 references from customers in each area of expertise. Must provide references from small physician practices if applying for implementation services.

     

Agreement

  • Preferred vendor information must be updated annually
     
  • Individual assigned may be removed “at will” and guarantee replacement with qualified staff
     
  • Identification as a preferred vendor does not guarantee any engagements
     
  • Agreements may be between service provider and VITL, or service provider and VITL customer
     
  • Service provider must notify VITL of initiation and completion of engagements
     
  • Service provider will create a scope of work for each engagement, specifying costs, timeframe, and deliverables

 

Consideration and announcement of Preferred Services Partner status can occur at anytime so you are not precluded from future consideration if you do not meet the requirements at this time. When you have demonstrated compliance with the above prerequisites, VITL will notify you and also inform Vermont providers of your preferred status. VITL may revoke Preferred Services Partner status at any time.

To recap, we are seeking a letter of intent as outlined above. Please provide the documentation via one hardcopy and email to:
Larry Gilbert
Director of Outreach and Business Development
Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc.
144 Main Street, Suite 1
Montpelier, VT 05602
lgilbert@vitl.net