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A checklist for choosing a clinic management system
Use this against every vendor you are considering, this one included. Where an answer matters, ask for it in writing: a capability described in a meeting and a capability written into a proposal are not the same thing.
Published
Fit and care setting
- Was this system built for the kind of care you deliver, or adapted to it?
- Which parts of your day does it not cover at all?
- Can the vendor name a limitation without being pushed?
Access and permissions
- Does every person have their own named login, or do people share one?
- Can visibility be set by role, so a receptionist and a physician see different things?
- What happens to an account the day someone leaves?
- Can the vendor demonstrate this, on screen, rather than describe it?
Audit and accountability
- Is there a record of who opened a patient record, and when?
- Is there a record of what changed, and who changed it?
- Who can read that record, and who can switch it off?
- Ask precisely how the record is protected from alteration, and take the precise answer rather than an adjective.
Data ownership and export
- Who owns the clinical data — you, or the vendor?
- Can you export it yourself, without asking anyone?
- In what format, and does that format include the attachments and documents?
- Is the export capability written into the contract, or only into the sales deck?
Backup and continuity
- Who takes the backups, and how often?
- Has a restore from those backups ever actually been tested?
- Where are the backups held, and who can reach them?
- What is the plan for the morning the system does not start?
Configuration and forms
- Can your own forms and templates be set up, and by whom?
- Does changing a form cost money each time?
- What is genuinely configurable, and what needs the vendor to write code?
Implementation and migration
- Who inspects your existing data before anyone quotes a price for moving it?
- What will not survive the move, and who tells you before it happens?
- How will you check that what arrived matches what left?
- Treat any go-live date offered before your data has been looked at as a guess.
Training and support
- How many hours of training are included, and for how many people?
- What happens when you hire someone six months later?
- During which hours is support actually answered, and in which language?
- What counts as urgent, and what does the vendor promise for it in writing?
Pricing and exclusions
- Is the published price annual or monthly, and payable when?
- Is tax included in the figure you were shown?
- What is charged separately — implementation, migration, integrations, extra training, extra locations?
- What makes the price go up in year two?
Contract exit and data return
- What happens when the contract ends?
- In what form do you get your data back, and how long do you have to collect it?
- Is there a fee for leaving, and is it written down?
- How long is your data kept after you go, and when is it deleted?
Integrations and evidence
- For every integration you were told about: is it running somewhere today?
- Can the vendor demonstrate it, or only describe the plan for it?
- If it is planned rather than built, ask for that distinction in the proposal.
- Ask what happens to your integration if the other side changes its interface.
Where to go from here
Every SkyEagle product line can be seen in a walkthrough, with its scope and any configuration or integration requirements explained.