Assess IT capacity for the interRAI assessment

When it comes to choosing a software vendor to help you implement the interRAI assessment system, your decision will partly depend on your organization’s existing IT infrastructure and staff.

Consider the following questions when assessing the capacity of your IT services.

• Can your organization’s IT department perform all the tasks required in terms of skills, tools, processes and management capabilities? 
• Has your organization successfully executed a project of comparable scope and size? 
• What are some initial start-up costs? Remember to include potential upgrades to hardware or software, additional staffing and capital purchases, such as
  • Equipment
  • Systems
  • Software required for submission
• Are there any conflicting IT projects (e.g., electronic health record [EHR] implementation, hardware upgrades) that could potentially affect this project?
• Are additional resources (e.g., staff) required for data collection and submission?
  • Note that resource requirements will vary depending on the scope and volume of data submitted
• What are the ongoing operational costs?

When choosing a software vendor for this project, consider its ability to efficiently integrate the interRAI assessment system into an EHR.

Understanding the requirements for this integration will assist in decision-making at clinical, organizational and system levels.