Professor Russell Hinz
Textbooks: Ury, W. (1993). Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Overly, M. and Kalyvas, J.R. (2004). Software Agreements Line by Line: A Detailed Look at Software Contracts and Licenses and How to Change Them to Fit Your Needs. Boston, MA: Aspatore Books.
Even though this was a course where the material was somewhat foreign to my previous experience, I had a tremendous interest in the subject and a thorough understanding of why it was important. About five years ago my hospital acquired and implemented a new major-vendor inpatient EMR with no input from the medical staff. There was no change management and very little instruction in how to use the new system. The product had a confusing user interface, disrupted physician workflow, and decreased physician efficiency. The vendor was completely insensitive to end-user concerns and recommendations, and refused to make any changes. Not surprisingly, this was a failed implementation, and 80% of the medical staff still uses our old, home built, EMR which could not be retired as planned.
I was excited about the opportunity to really dig into the details of evaluating and purchasing health information technology hardware and
software, and I learned that this multi-step process is significantly more complex than I had imagined. Diverse stakeholder groups must cooperate to define the organization’s needs and priorities, explore available concepts and solutions, and determine the project’s owners and level of resources. The project team must then translate the concepts into a highly specific statement of work (SOW), use the SOW to create a request for proposals (RFP), review the proposals, select the vendor best qualified to provide and implement a system which meets the organization’s goals, and negotiate a contract which appropriately manages risks and is fair to both sides. Wow.
software, and I learned that this multi-step process is significantly more complex than I had imagined. Diverse stakeholder groups must cooperate to define the organization’s needs and priorities, explore available concepts and solutions, and determine the project’s owners and level of resources. The project team must then translate the concepts into a highly specific statement of work (SOW), use the SOW to create a request for proposals (RFP), review the proposals, select the vendor best qualified to provide and implement a system which meets the organization’s goals, and negotiate a contract which appropriately manages risks and is fair to both sides. Wow.
Developing the skills to apply these new ideas in the major course project was quite a challenge, but luckily I got plenty of help from my
project teammates Abby Zimmerman and Isolina Vargas, who had more business and administrative experience than I do. Our assignment was to acquire a document management system for a 150 physician multi-specialty group medical practice in order to incorporate the practice’s key legacy paper documents into their new electronic medical record in a searchable, properly organized format and to also allow new paper records obtained from outside sources to be directly integrated into the EMR. Our group Statement of Work, Request for Proposals, and Vendor
Selection Process documents are attached as links.
project teammates Abby Zimmerman and Isolina Vargas, who had more business and administrative experience than I do. Our assignment was to acquire a document management system for a 150 physician multi-specialty group medical practice in order to incorporate the practice’s key legacy paper documents into their new electronic medical record in a searchable, properly organized format and to also allow new paper records obtained from outside sources to be directly integrated into the EMR. Our group Statement of Work, Request for Proposals, and Vendor
Selection Process documents are attached as links.
The final part of the project was an individual paper detailing the strategy for contract negotiations (see final attached link). Medical
practice and medical consultations are by nature collegial, with all involved making a maximum effort to help each other optimize the patient care. Contract negotiations are by nature adversarial, with each side striving to negotiate its most advantageous agreement. As I tried to switch my worldview into negotiating mode, the course textbooks were tremendously helpful. William Ury’s Getting Past No gave me a wealth of ideas and practical instructions for negotiating in difficult situations, and Overly sand Kalyvas’s Software Agreements Line by Line neatly dissected the typical vendor-proposed software licensing agreement, revealing the tricks and traps, and detailing practical strategies for taking a vendor-centric document and revising it into a contract that is fair for both sides.
practice and medical consultations are by nature collegial, with all involved making a maximum effort to help each other optimize the patient care. Contract negotiations are by nature adversarial, with each side striving to negotiate its most advantageous agreement. As I tried to switch my worldview into negotiating mode, the course textbooks were tremendously helpful. William Ury’s Getting Past No gave me a wealth of ideas and practical instructions for negotiating in difficult situations, and Overly sand Kalyvas’s Software Agreements Line by Line neatly dissected the typical vendor-proposed software licensing agreement, revealing the tricks and traps, and detailing practical strategies for taking a vendor-centric document and revising it into a contract that is fair for both sides.