Care should be taken while signing the Electronic Health Record license agreement

The Electronic Health Record (EHR) license agreement is the core document for physician practices that have just entered the EHR arena, as well as for practices that transition to a new EHR software package.
The license agreement should ideally state and clear issues such as:
o Whether and how often the vendor may make online portions of the software unavailable for maintenance or other issues
o How many people may use the software and on how many machines the software may be installed, if it has an offline component
o The kind of technical support the vendor will provide
o Whether the vendor will use data entered by the practice for its own purposes, and if yes, under what conditions
o Terms under which the agreement may be terminated, and
o What happens to the practice's data upon terminationr
Since these are extremely important elements of the physician practice’s relationship with the EHR; the practice has to take total care to understand exactly what it is signing. The physician practice has to steer clear of the pressures that vendor sales personnel may put on them to get the EHR implemented quickly.
Take all aspects into considerationr
The physician practice should consider crucial aspects before inking the agreement. Some of these include: Does the license agreement require a specific person at the practice as the primary contact with the vendor? If so, what happens if that person is out sick or on vacation, or quits or is fired? What happens if the software operates as specified, but the physician practice wants to switch to a different vendor's software? Does the license let physician practice terminate at will, or only under certain circumstances? What happens to its data after termination and when will it be got back, and in what form?
A highly pertinent learning session that gives thorough understanding of these aspects of the EHR license agreement and illustrates and highlights common terms and conce
s is being organized by MentorHealth, a well-known provider of professional trainings for the healthcare industry.
Daniel F. Shay, an atto
ey with Alice G. Gosfield and Associates, P.C., who specializes in health law and health care regulation practice, will be the speaker at this highly valuable webinar. In order to enroll for this webinar, just log on to http://www.mentorhealth.com/control/w_product/~product_id=800844LIVE/.
Look at the subtle and intricate aspects of the license agreementr
Shay will offer practical considerations for physician practices in reviewing EHR license agreements. He will also touch upon topics such as compliance with Meaningful Use. Apart from the types of documents that are often incorporated into the license agreement; the speaker will also address what physician practices can expect in the negotiation process after the license agreement has been reviewed.
Shay will cover the following areas at this session:
o Common contractual terms in EHR software license agreements
o Grounds for termination of a license
o Common documents incorporated into the license
o Meaningful Use considerations
o Post-termination data control and conversion.