COTS vs. ASP: filling out the MHSA proposal forms

Here are some clarification items that came up in the ACHSA IBHIS workshop this month:

The terms COTS and ASP are used in Exhibit 3 and the Risk Assessment, and not in the way I use them, so let me help you...

If you are implementing a typical EHR-S product that we talk about all the time in my workshops, for example, Netsmart, Anasazi, Exym, Welligent, Claimtrak, UniCare, etc. These are all Commercial Off The Shelf products (COTS),

.... some offer self-hosting and some offer an ASP hosting solution, and some offer both. (just so you know, and are using the terms correctly yourself)

LACDMH is not using the term COTS this way, they only use COTS to represent self-hosting.

So use this method to determine what to check off on the MHSA project proposal forms:

• Are you going to self-host your EHR-S? i.e. you are buying servers and installing them in a room somewhere, and the EHR-S application will be installed on these servers, and your IT staff are going to manage them, and you can reach out and touch them....... then check off COTS!
• or, are you going to go with an ASP solution? i.e. you are not buying any servers for the EHR-S, your vendor is going to host the application at their facility (likely in another state), and you are going to pay a monthly hosting fee. You cannot reach out and touch the servers............. check off ASP.

even simpler............ ASP, yes/no? if no, check off COTS!

Now, this holds true if your project is an EHR-S project AND you are not building your own custom system, you all know how I feel about that!

More to come as questions come up in the work groups on this topic.