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Vendor Performance in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis
Author
Taylor Davis
The COVID-19 crisis needs no introduction—it has rocked healthcare and will change the world for decades to come. Now, with the first wave definitively underway, what have provider organizations in the heart of this crisis reported about their technology and services vendors’ responses? What technologies have organizations relied on the most? What solutions are making the biggest difference? How does COVID-19 change organization budgets and purchasing plans moving forward? What vendors will organizations increasingly look to coming out of this crisis?
As more waves of COVID-19 cases are likely, KLAS hopes this report helps vendors improve their response and helps provider organizations know where to turn for additional assistance. A vendor-generated listing of potentially helpful COVID-19 technologies and services is available on the KLAS website.
This research comes from two sources: (1) 192 healthcare leaders were surveyed in April and May regarding their future plans and the solutions they are turning to during COVID-19; (2) The 1,281 healthcare professionals who completed KLAS’ standard vendor performance survey during April and May were asked to rate their vendor’s support through the crisis.
What Solutions Are Healthcare Organizations Turning To?
Overwhelmingly and unsurprisingly, provider organizations have turned to virtual care/telehealth platforms in this crisis. But most notable is the very high number of vendors that organizations have adopted: the 174 respondents who report heavily utilizing this technology mentioned 43 different virtual care vendors. Most organizations report frantic efforts to stand up this technology, with little time to consider a long-term strategy. Commonly selected solutions like Doxy.me and Zoom were often chosen because they could be implemented quickly.
Many Vendors Have Stepped Up
In April and May, KLAS began asking healthcare professionals in our standard performance interviews to also rate their vendor’s response to the COVID-19 crisis: “On a scale of 1–9, how well has your vendor supported you through the COVID-19 crisis?” The good news is that vendors have generally exceeded expectations in handling the crisis—of the 58 measured vendors, 79% are rated higher for their COVID-19 response than for overall customer satisfaction.
Unsurprisingly, vendors who had high overall satisfaction ratings before the pandemic tend to also be rated higher for their response to the crisis.
Behind these ratings are hundreds of stories shared by respondents about their vendor’s COVID-19 response—to learn more, see the Supplemental Evaluation Commentary section at the end of this report or visit the KLAS website.
Which Vendors Have Performed Well?
Vendors that have performed well in response to COVID-19 generally fall into three categories:
High-Performing Vendors with Limited Breadth of KLAS-Measured Solutions
Many of the vendors with the highest ratings for COVID-19 performance have a narrow set of solutions measured by KLAS (less than 3 in this research). The vendors in this group who demonstrated excellent performance (COVID-19 response scores ≥8.5) include Aquity Solutions, Dolbey, FairWarning, Lyniate, PCC, PELITAS, Phreesia, WELL Health, and Zipnosis.
High-Performing Vendors with Broad Solution Set
These vendors have a broader portfolio of solutions and perform very well across their portfolio. Broad, high-performing vendors (scoring ≥7.5) include 3M, BD, Cerner, Elsevier, Epic, Experian Health, GetWellNetwork, Health Catalyst, IBM Watson Health, InterSystems, MEDITECH, Nuance, Optum, Philips, and Sectra.
Vendors Outperforming Their Historical Customer Satisfaction
Most vendors receive higher ratings for COVID-19 satisfaction than they have historically received for overall satisfaction. Several vendors received significantly higher COVID-19 ratings. These vendors include CareCloud, Cerner, IBM Watson Health, Philips, RxStrategies, and WellSky.
(Please see Vendor-by-Vendor Performance section below for a performance summary of all vendors with 15 or more COVID-19 ratings.)
Which Vendors Were Rated Lowest for Their Response?
Healthcare providers report a nearly universal response from vendors to the COVID-19 crisis—even the lowest-rated vendors have sent out communications to customers about the crisis, hosted webinars, and worked to adjust functionality. The following vendors are among the lowest scoring for COVID-19 response and had multiple customers describe concerns. One thing these lower-rated vendors have in common is that they missed key opportunities to step up as a partner to their provider customers.
Customers report some efforts by Agfa HealthCare to help but a few say several concerns were not addressed quickly enough.
Allscripts customers report a variety of experiences. Some customers report Allscripts made strong, proactive efforts to help. Others say Allscripts appeared insensitive by trying to sell more, and still others say they received almost no communication from Allscripts regarding COVID-19. Most of the negative feedback was reported by acquired Paragon customers.
eClinicalWorks is not known for good, proactive support, and for many customers, this trend has continued through the crisis.
(Please see Vendor-by-Vendor Performance section below for a performance summary of all vendors with 15 or more COVID-19 ratings.)
Behind these ratings are hundreds of stories shared by respondents about their vendor’s COVID-19 response—to learn more, see the Supplemental Evaluation Commentary section at the end of this report or visit the KLAS website.
How Is Technology Purchasing Being Impacted?
81% of interviewed provider organization leaders report significant budget cuts. However, of this group, 74% will invest in more technology moving forward. While the dust of COVID-19 has not yet settled, providers are confident that healthcare will not be the same and that technology will play a key role in that new world going forward. Healthcare organizations find themselves in a difficult position—dealing with strapped budgets, they also need to invest in technology to come through the crisis and not be left behind in the post-COVID world of healthcare delivery.
What Vendors Do Healthcare Organizations Want to Partner with Going Forward?
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has transformed the list of vendors provider organizations want to partner with in the future. When healthcare leaders were asked what technologies they will invest in more after this crisis, virtual care/telehealth was at the top of their list.
When it comes to individual vendors, most respondents do not yet know which will be the best to partner with—they mentioned 35 different vendors (on average less than two times apiece). The most mentioned vendor was Microsoft—healthcare organizations recognize the power of the Teams solution to enable remote work.
Behind these ratings are hundreds of stories shared by respondents about their vendor’s COVID-19 response—to learn more, see the Supplemental Evaluation Commentary section at the end of this report or visit the KLAS website.
Vendor-by-Vendor Performance
The following vendors were rated on their response to the COVID-19 crisis by at least 15 customers. Sample sizes vary widely from vendor to vendor—in general, those vendors with a higher number of products rated by KLAS (e.g., Cerner and Epic) have the largest sample sizes and vice versa. To see customer feedback and comments on over 100 vendors, refer to the KLAS website.
Agfa’s technology, particularly their remote-viewing abilities, has been critical for many customers. Some customers report insensitivity with costs or a lack of communication regarding the crisis.
Customers report a variety of experiences. Some say Allscripts has made strong, proactive efforts to help. Others say Allscripts appeared insensitive by trying to sell more. Still others report almost no communication from Allscripts regarding COVID-19.
Quickly made some important system updates to support customers with better templates, order sets, and billing. Some customers report slower service times.
Provided some emergency shipping of smart pumps to customers in critical need. Responsive to working with customers to meet their needs.
Customers report Cerner has stepped up in the crisis, proactively reaching out to customers by phone and offering rapid software updates, screening functionality, templates, and best practices & guides. Helped customers prepare for surge capacity. Overall, communication with Cerner has significantly improved throughout the crisis.
Solutions have helped many organizations through COVID-19. Revenue cycle tools keep billing flowing, and imaging solutions support remote-work options. In most cases, Change Healthcare is quick to help with dashboards, upgrades, and communication, though a few customers feel left in the dark.
Customers expect strong vendor support, and nearly all report Epic met or exceeded their expectations through the pandemic. Support in the form of dashboards, analytics, weekly upgrades, and constant communication is commonly reported by customers. Some customers report that Epic teams converged to stand up their temporary hospitals. With a wealth of data, Epic has also taken the unique step of sharing clinical COVID-19 insights through the Epic Health Research Network.
Customers report incredible executive communication and rapid release of needed COVID-19 functionality. Customers say the FairWarning team was proactive about filling needs that customers didn’t realize they had.
Has been generally responsive to customers, switching to virtual trainings and providing responses to customer requests.
Support through the pandemic has been acceptable to most customers. The vendor has been flexible with upgrades and adjusted to meet customers’ timing needs.
Customers generally report that Greenway Health’s response has been satisfactory and that the vendor has provided abundant communication, webinars, and support during the crisis. Some customers report that Greenway furloughed some key support staff during the crisis.
Most customers report proactive and constant communication through the past months. IBM was quick to build out remote-work options for imaging and has been flexible in providing resources to meet customer needs.
Customer support through COVID-19 has been mixed. Some customers report challenges with Kareo’s telemedicine solution, while others praise the vendor’s support.
Most MEDITECH customers share glowing feedback about MEDITECH’s response to the crisis, including rapid communication and free-of-charge services or software. Best practices from the vendor also helped several customers navigate COVID-19 challenges.
Has been quick to help customers with a number of solutions, including telehealth functionality that was quickly rolled out for many organizations. Communication has been strong, and customers report quick responses to challenges regarding COVID-19.
Quickly began proactive communication regarding COVID-19, attempting in some cases to even take on customers’ maintenance work so organizations could focus their time and resources elsewhere.
Has attempted to support customers through this crisis by communicating often and quickly providing additional cabinets for organizations that needed to grow their surge capacity. Some customers experienced some delays with needed hardware but generally express understanding because of the circumstances of the pandemic.
Response to COVID-19 has been good—the vendor has communicated well and implemented quick updates for ICD-10 coding functionality tied to the virus.
Provided strong level of support for customers through the crisis, with updates, webinars, and quick turnaround on issues.
Voice of the Provider
Hundreds of healthcare professionals have shared stories about their vendors’ COVID-19 response and its effects on their organization. To read these stories in depth, read the Supplemental Evaluation Commentary section at the end of this report.
Writer
Amanda Wind Smith
Designer
Natalie Jamison
Project Manager
Robert Ellis
This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.