Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
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LEXPERT MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2019 29 some good lessons from the past, just don`t get too mired in the foibles of past mistakes. Your staff tell you there is good news – a recent market scan they conducted shows there are at least four major so-called "ERP" soware vendors that now have ma- ture product offerings in the clinical space. e ERP designation means that each sup- plier has a broad suit of products that can single handily replace the plethora of dif- ferent products currently being supported by your organization's IT group. And this is the huge benefit of ERP – multiple systems but all tied together to the same product architecture, thereby making it easier to use and maintain. e bad news – these ERP clinical sys- tems, when you buy the entire catalogue of products, or the bulk of them, are horren- dously expensive; as in, you could either buy such an IT system, or you could fund that oncology wing upgrade you so desperately need. In terms of your IT budget, this will be the largest computer-related procure- ment you will ever make, by a country mile. On the other hand, you do get what you pay for. You will be buying IT ratio- High Stakes, But High Reward if Done Right nality across your entire hospital commu- nity, for the first time. is is a huge win. Moreover, in addition to day to day opera- tions improving materially, the new ERP clinical system will allow you to do some things you`ve never done before. You will be able to harness predictive health capa- bilities. You will be able to detect patterns of disease in the community well before that could be done now (if that could be done currently at all). For example, in one week-end, 10 patients present at emer- gency with similar symptoms; now you`ll be able to detect they all work at the same factory, and something is going on there. With the support of such a system, well- ness more likely becomes an attainable goal rather than a marketing buzzword. CONTRACTING FOR MEDICAL IT SYSTEMS – Part 1 You're the President of a large health care facility in Canada, perhaps a major hos- pital with several ancillary institutes and sites. It`s an incredibly complex environ- ment, demands are being made on you from all quarters, and of course you are publicly responsible for all of it working well. But money is tight, as it always is, and so you have the real challenge of making all ends meet. As if you didn`t have enough on your plate, you are told by your senior manage- ment team that the organization's clinical soware systems need a major upgrade. Currently, you have what is affectionately called a "mish mash" of different systems; one supplier for your core electronic health record, another supplier for you laboratory system, yet another for oncology, and so on. And of course there are a hundred good reasons for this plethora of systems, all of which is interesting, but completely irrel- evant because it all pre-dates you assuming the leadership role nine months ago. If you are to keep your humour, let alone your sanity, you must keep looking down the road to a major IT procurement; sure, learn By George S Takach TECHNOLOGY COLUMNS