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HIE Services Pricing

1. Pricing Parameters
2. One Time Installation Costs
3. Recurring Support Costs
4. Cost Examples

 
PRICING EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 18, 2011
( version 6 )


Overview
Redwood MedNet operates a community health information exchange (HIE) network service. We believe that health care IT services must be clinically relevant, easy to use, and affordable. Our goal is to lower the cost and to reduce the complexity of clinical data exchange services between separate EHR software installations. We operate as a virtual network service business. We charge flat-rate pricing, with no metering or traffic fees, so that participant costs can be easily budgeted in advance.

Pricing
Redwood MedNet charges two fees to plan, build and operate HIE network services:

1. One time HIE installation costs
2. Recurring HIE support costs

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One Time HIE Installation Costs
There are several one-time costs for installation of HIE services. Each installation is unique. Specific costs are identified by a discovery process which investigates the participant's current and planned clinical work flow, the interface capabilities of their EHR (if any), and the interface capabilities of their trading partners. The following checklist identifies typical installation costs.

1. Business Associate Agreement (BAA) - - Use the standard Redwood MedNet BAA at no charge, or negotiate a unique bilateral BAA, incurring an extra expense
    
2. Network Participation Agreement (NPA) - - Use the standard Redwood MedNet NPA at no charge, or negotiate a unique bilateral NPA, incurring an extra expense
    
3. EHR Interface Fees - - EHR software vendor costs incurred by the HIE participant are generally payable directly to the participant's EHR vendor. Typical costs range from about $5,000 per interface to over $20,000 per interface. These costs are vendor specific. See "cost saving tip" below.
    
4. Secure Circuit Costs - - An installation cost to establish a secure data circuit, which may require a hardware endpoint. This cost is generally less than $2,000, but can go higher depending upon the site's technical requirements.
    
5. Other Security Costs - - Network perimeter security costs, when required by a participant's security posture, are most likely a one time charge. This is a rare contract requirement, but when present this can add to both start up and recurring costs.
    
6. EHR Hosting Service Costs - - Some hosting services impose contracting costs on the participant. This would be a local cost at the participant site, not a Redwood MedNet cost.
    
7. HIE Interface Costs - - These interface costs are dependent upon the relative complexity of the six preceding costs. A simple HIE installation may be less than $5,000 while a complex interface service may have a start up cost of more than $50,000. Example of a complex service: Redwood MedNet pushes clinical results in a nonstandard format to a home grown physician portal. The portal is required construction of a custom interface that can never be re-used. Cost Saving Tips: (1) In our experience the two EHR vendors who stand out for lowest interface costs are CliniPro and Amazing Charts; (2) use of the ELINCS standard can keep some lab interface costs down.

In general the bulk of the cost and complexity for health data interfaces is dependent upon requirements imposed on the HIE participant by the incumbent clinical software vendors at either end of the data transaction. As a purely network service using open source software, Redwood MedNet's installation costs are lean and minimal.

For more details on HIE installation costs, see the Cost Examples below.

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Recurring HIE Support Costs
As a general rule the cost of annual support will be about 20% of the cost of building the interoperability services. Redwood MedNet prices its interface support as a basic bundle of network services. Additional premium services, such as a hosted EHR, can also be purchased. Current support pricing is noted below. Support pricing is subject to change without notice. One time installation costs described above.

Support Pricing Notes

1. Patient Portal - - This service is currently limited to bidirectional messaging with the patient's Microsoft HealthVault account
    
2. Ancillary Health Data Sites (Imaging Centers, Independent Clinical Testing Laboratories, etc.) - - Flat rate annual pricing at a sliding scale based on volume of data traffic and services selected. Prices range from $60/site/year to $3,000/site/year.
    
3. Public Heath Agencies - - Recurring HIE support service costs on a sliding scale ranging from $0/agency/year to $12,000/agency/year depending on the complexity of the population health tasks.
    

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Cost Examples
These examples are for illustration only and are not actual price quotes.

SOLO PRACTICE, PORTAL USER (NO EHR)
    Standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  no charge
    Standard Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  no charge
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 2,400
    No new health data interfaces  -  no charge
    User Training  -  no charge
    HIE Support  -  $ 200 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $ 0
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 2,400
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 200


PHYSICIAN + MIDLEVEL PRACTICE (TWO PROVIDERS), EHR USER
    Standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  no charge
    Standard Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  no charge
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 3,200
    New health data interface, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 3,200
    New health data interface, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 15,000
    User Training  -  no charge
    HIE Support  -  $ 400 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $ 15,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 6,400
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 400

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SMALL GROUP PRACTICE (SIX PROVIDERS), EHR USERS
    Standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  no charge
    Standard Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  no charge
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 4,400
    One new, three recycled health data interfaces, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 5,400
    Four health data interfaces, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 16,000
    User Training  -  $ 1,200
    HIE Support  -  $ 1,200 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $16,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 11,000
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 1,200


LARGE GROUP PRACTICE (50 PROVIDERS), EHR USER
    Standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  no charge
    Standard Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  no charge
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 9,000
    Two new, four recycled health data interfaces, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 14,000
    Six health data interfaces, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 30,000
    User Training  -  $ 1,800
    HIE Support  -  $ 9,000 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $30,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 24,800
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 9,000

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CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITAL (25 BEDS), CPOE USER
    Standard Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  no charge
    Standard Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  no charge
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 16,000
    Three new, three recycled health data interfaces, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 18,000
    Eight new health data interfaces, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 44,000
    User Training  -  $ 2,400
    HIE Support  -  $ 9,000 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $48,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 36,400
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 9,000


SMALL COMMUNITY HOSPITAL (90 BEDS), CPOE USER
    Custom Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  $1,000
    Custom Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  $10,000
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 20,000
    Twelve new health data interfaces, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 32,000
    Twelve new health data interfaces, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 80,000
    User Training  -  $ 3,000
    HIE Support  -  $ 18,000 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $80,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 66,000
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 18,000

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REGIONAL HOSPITAL (250 BEDS), CPOE USER
    Custom Business Associate Agreement (BAA)  -  $1,000
    Custom Network Participation Agreement (NPA)  -  $16,000
    Project Management, HIE Gateway, and Clinical Data Repository  -  $ 32,000
    Twelve new health data interfaces, Redwood MedNet cost  -  $ 36,000
    Twelve new health data interfaces, EHR vendor cost  -  $ 120,000
    User Training  -  $ 4,800
    HIE Support  -  $ 25,000 per year
        ONE TIME EHR VENDOR COST   $120,000
        ONE TIME REDWOOD MEDNET COST   $ 89,800
        ANNUAL MAINTENANCE   $ 25,000

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Last Update:   30 December 2011