We’ve come a long way since McKesson’s announcement that it was withdrawing support for our Horizon software suite, leading us to launch our CS 2.0 initiative. I pledged to keep you updated as we evaluated our systems and plan for the future.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) we sent to Cerner and Epic has been completed and sent back to us. The Steering Committee is meeting this week to evaluate their responses against the six criteria we gave them. Based on the criteria, we will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor and summarize our assessment of both vendors. We will then present this comprehensive assessment to the executive oversight committee for additional discussion, leading to the identification of a preferred vendor and an alternate vendor. We will not publicize this decision until we are a bit further into negotiations with our preferred vendor.
Then the hard work will begin as we look at the total cost and value of the vendors’ proposals.
We will analyze each area carefully before making a decision on the best vendor to meet our needs and budget. Once we have a decision, we will begin a negotiation process. There will be a few weeks of silence as we strive to negotiate the best deal. As soon as the decision is made, I promise to let you know.
Thank you for your response in our listening sessions, forums and requests for input. We will need your help even more going forward. This is an exciting time in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s proud history. Tomorrow’s world will assume rapid response to needs, transparency and information on demand. We are setting the foundation now for VUMC’s ability to thrive and excel in that future.
Please email us at cs@vanderbilt.edu with questions, requests for copies of information to share with your team, to ask for a CS 2.0 Ambassador to visit with your group or to join the CS 2.0 Ambassador network.
Kevin Johnson, M.D.
Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics
