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Pricing
PRICING EFFECTIVE MAY 16,
2014
( version 8 )
Overview
Redwood MedNet provisions electronic clinical data exchange services that can
be deployed internally within a health care enterprise, or as a secure gateway
on the edge of a health care enterprise, or can be externally hosted in a remote
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
format. In each case a clinical data
interface (or multiple
interfaces) allows a data sender and a data receiver to exchange electronic
clinical messages. Costs for these electronic clinical data exchange services
fall into two categories:
- one-time installation costs; and
- recurring support costs
Top of Page
One-Time Installation Costs
Each interface installation is unique. Redwood MedNet follows a simple, user
centered process. First, potential one-time interface installation costs are
identified by a discovery process which investigates current and planned
clinical data work flow, the interface capabilities of the software, and the
interface capabilities of the trading partner at the other end of the interface.
The following list describes common installation costs that are reviewed.
After analysis of the interface specification and the potential costs, Redwood
MedNet issues a flat rate quote for the installation. The participant can sign
the quote to initiate the interface procurement, or can alter the interface
specifications which will lead to a revised quote.
- Business Associate Contract (BAC) - - Use the standard
Redwood MedNet BAC at no charge, or
negotiate a unique bilateral BAC, potentially incurring an extra expense
- Participation Agreement (PA) - - Use the standard
Redwood MedNet PA at no charge, or
negotiate a unique bilateral PA, potentially incurring an extra expense
- EHR Interface Fees - - EHR software vendor costs incurred by the HIE
participant are generally payable directly to the participant's EHR
vendor. Typical costs range from $2,000 per interface to over $6,000 per
interface. These costs are vendor specific. See "cost saving tip" below.
- Secure Circuit Costs - - There may be an installation cost to establish
a secure data circuit, which may require a hardware appliance. This cost
is typically $500 when required.
- Other Security Costs - - Network perimeter security costs may be required
by a participant's security posture. This is a rare contract requirement,
but when present this can add to both start up and recurring
costs.
- EHR Hosting Service Costs - - Some hosted EHRs impose contracting
costs on the participant for installation of an external interface.
This is a local cost incurred by the participant, not a cost charged
by Redwood MedNet.
- Redwood MedNet Interface Costs - - These interface costs are dependent
upon the relative complexity of the installation. A simple EHR interface
(e.g., receive laboratory test results, send visit summaries, etc.) may
cost less than $3,000. A complex enterprise interface service (e.g.,
bidirectional orders and results for a hospital laboratory) may have a
one time start up cost of $10,000 or more. Costs are quoted after discovery
of the minimum necessary technology services to build and operate the
interface.
- Cost Shifting - - Health care as a business suffers from non-negotiable cost-shifting pressures that can be unavoidable. Some examples: (1) an outpatient practice represents enough business to demand that a hospital laboratory pay for all interface costs (i.e., "make it free or we will take our lab business elsewhere"); (2) a hospital laboratory will pay for a point-to-point interface to a single outpatient EHR (which raises the recurring support costs that the outpatient practice pays to their EHR vendor) but will not contribute to the lower overall cost for a bulk interface; (3) a hosted EHR vendor will claim that their EHR is "free to the physician" but will charge the hospital an interface installation cost as well as a metered fee for delivery of each message (i.e., the hospital is forced to pay a $10,000 installation fee plus a recurring $1 fee per lab test paid to send results to the "free" EHR ); (4) a commercial lab will pay for EHR interfaces for large volume customers, but not for small volume customers.
A proposal from Redwood MedNet for installation of a single
interface will typically range from $3,000 to $8,000. The one-time cost of
installing a health data interface is dependent upon the complexity of the
technical requirements imposed on the data senders and data receivers by
incumbent software vendors and software hosting services at either end of the
data transport process.
Interoperability Cost Saving Tips
- It is always a mistake to assume that buying the same EHR software as
your trading partner will lower your interface costs. The best way to
minimize your interface costs is to buy an EHR with lower cost interfaces
(see below).
- Some EHR vendors offer bulk interface bundles that are substantially
less expensive than individual interfaces
- Redwood MedNet operates interfaces with dozens of EHR vendors. Some good EHRs with very low interoperability costs per interface are e-MDs, CliniPro, and Office Ally. For example a typical interface from e-MDs will cost about $1,000, while a typical interface from eClinicalWorks, NextGen, and other major EHR vendors will cost $5,000.
Top of Page
Recurring Support Costs
Redwood MedNet prices its interface support at a flat rate for a basic bundle
of network services as shown below.
FEE SCHEDULE NO. 8 - EFFECTIVE MAY 16, 2014
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FEE SCHEDULE NOTES
- Tech support for the basic health data provisioning service from Redwood
MedNet includes operation of up to eight interfaces for the single
flat rate.
- Interfaces are typically sold by EHR vendors and installed by Redwood
MedNet one at a time. Purchase of additional interfaces may result in
increased recurring support costs from the EHR vendor.
- Recurring support charges from Redwood MedNet, after the first eight
interfaces, are subject to change as described in the
Participation Agreement signed by the
participant.
REQUEST
AN INTERFACE QUOTE [ VIA EMAIL
]
This cumulative work from 2005 - 2016 is licensed by Redwood MedNet under a
Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States
License.
Some rights reserved.
Redwood MedNet 216 W. Perkins St., #206, Ukiah, California 95482 707.462.6369 (v) 707.462.5015 (f)
Last Update: 18 July 2016