How Do HIT Vendors Respond to Your Feedback?

Most of you know the vendors you work with quite well. But, do you ever wonder how your vendor responds to input from KLAS? After we spend time with many of you on the phone, we will summarize for a vendor (anonymously, of course) some of the challenges that providers are running into. There is a stunning array of responses that we hear from these vendors, which often shows us their true colors. 

How do you think your vendor responds? Do they:

1. Laugh about the fact that these providers know so little and don’t understand how to use the product?
2. Tell KLAS the research methodology is flawed and we probably talked to the wrong person.
3. Ask for more detail so they can really get to the bottom of the issue and solve it for all their customers?

We've heard these responses and more over the years.

Handling Critical Feedback

Recently, I experienced both b and c when approaching different vendors about similar customer issues.

Vendor #1 drilled down to understand as much as they could about the issue without compromising the confidentiality of the person giving the feedback. They went out to the customer base, helped get the issue solved, and then reported back that they had found a few sites where this had been a problem and were grateful for the input.

Vendor #2 asked if we could exclude this provider’s input from the KLAS reports. They gave various reasons, including the fact that this provider (they were guessing) was not properly trained and that department leadership had a bias against their product. They had actually guessed the wrong site, and didn’t seem to be eager to get the issues solved.

Doing Something About It

Do you know if your vendor likes to fix or hide? No matter how your vendor choses to respond, talking to a KLAS researcher about your real experiences with your healthcare IT products can give you a voice in this world of healthcare IT. Not only does this help potential future provider customers know what's real, it is also one way you can hold your vendors accountable for the promises they make. We would love to hear what you have to say.