Today, there’s no shortage of point solutions that integrate with EHRs to automate manual intake tasks. When thoughtfully implemented, these technologies are a boon to efficiency, profitability, staff loyalty and patient retention. But when you juggle too many vendors at once, it can frustrate staff and damage the patient experience.
The solution? Consolidate your vendors to minimize complexity, reduce overhead and improve operational efficiency.
By condensing your vendor base to a shortlist of trusted partners, you can achieve greater results without sacrificing precious resources. Read on to learn how:
1. Greater purchasing power
When healthcare organizations implement new technologies, they frequently take a piecemeal approach—and price is often a determining factor.
Imagine you work for a practice that wants to digitize check-in. You might opt for a cost-effective vendor for that service today, then bring in different vendors for other needs later. But over time, keeping track of each vendor’s pricing structures, fees and terms can make it tough to know if you’re getting a fair deal.
By selecting a single vendor that offers a full range of tools, you’ll help your organization be proactive as its needs change. Plus, you’ll benefit from simpler invoicing and fewer relationship-management costs, enabling you to reallocate saved dollars toward improving the patient experience.
2. Significant time savings
If you work for a small practice, you may have only a handful of third-party vendors under contract. If you’re part of a larger network, you could have thousands. Certainly, there’s value in maintaining numerous vendor relationships, but managing multiple vendors can be incredibly labor-intensive.
Consolidating your vendors means you’ll spend less time managing those relationships. It also means less frustration—and lost time—dealing with systems that don’t work in tandem. When all your technology comes from one vendor, there’s less risk of incompatibility between products.
Most companies spend more time working with vendors today than in years past. By embracing vendor consolidation, you’ll rest assured that your staff have enough time to focus on their primary day-to-day responsibilities.
3. Stronger vendor relationships
No technology is foolproof—and when problems inevitably arise, you need a way to quickly get support. But if you rely on multiple vendors, you may find yourself playing phone tag when tech issues pop up.
When you depend on a single vendor for multiple workflows, that’s less of a concern. You can facilitate a close-knit partnership with your preferred vendor, meaning you’ll be able to make one phone call and receive timely, responsive assistance.
Better yet, consolidating to one vendor gives you a trusted partner that deeply understands your business objectives. That means they can better assist with implementation, deploy customized features and advise on the best ways to maximize the value of their products.
4. Better vendor quality
Do your current vendors have the expertise you need in a partner? Do you trust them to keep your organization’s data secure? Do they offer the same level of high-quality service and support that you extend to your patients?
If not, it’s time to recalibrate.
By evaluating vendors based on your current and future needs, you can eliminate redundancies by pruning point-solution vendors in favor of companies with more robust offerings. Creating these economies of scale can help you make the most of your resources.
5. Higher staff satisfaction
A majority of healthcare executives agree that it’s important to invest in digital health. But without thoughtful execution, the technology you implement could drain productivity and overload your staff.
That’s why it’s crucial to select a vendor that offers a suite of solutions on a single platform, which mitigates the need for multiple apps and logins. You’ll also save time on data entry by having all your analytics and reports in one place.
Be sure to choose a vendor that interfaces with your EHR or PM system, too. When new technology easily integrates with your existing workflows, you’ll spend less time on the phone with tech support and more time driving outcomes that matter.
6. A better experience for patients
Patients want their healthcare providers to offer the same digital features that they’re accustomed to using in other industries. Nearly 9 in 10 patients are comfortable using healthcare technology, and the ones who feel uncomfortable aren’t tech-averse—they simply want digital tools that are easy to use.
By consolidating to one preferred vendor for intake, scheduling, communication and payments, you’ll simplify the patient experience. Patients will need to learn one platform, and your staff will spend less time teaching them how to use it. And when healthcare organizations offer the modern, convenient features patients expect, those patients are more likely to keep coming back.
Learn how Phreesia can support your workflows for registration, scheduling, payments, engagement, clinical support and more—all without the need for additional vendors.
The editorial staff had no role in this post's creation.