“Certified health IT developers must conspicuously disclose in plain language on their website, in all marketing materials, communication statements, and other assertions related to certified health IT, ALL of the ONC required information, for EVERY Certified Product. As such, Empower Systems™ provides the following information which is updated in real-time.”
EmpowerSystems™ Empower Inpatient+Ambulatory™ v1.1.57 has achieved ONC HIT 2014 Edition Complete certification, which designates that the software is capable of supporting Eligible Hospitals with meeting the Stage 1 and Stage 2 meaningful use measures required to qualify for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Empower Inpatient+Ambulatory v.1.1.57 was certified on July 8, 2014 by ICSA Labs, an Office of the National Coordinator-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) and is compliant in accordance with applicable criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In support of enhanced marketplace transparency and visibility into the costs and performance of certified health IT products and services, and the business practices of health IT developers, Empower Systems hereby attests that it will provide in a timely manner, in plain writing, and in a manner calculated to inform, any part (including all) of the information required to be disclosed under 45 CFR § 170.523(k)(1) under the following circumstances:
What costs/fees are not included in the initial purchase of this software?
EmpowerSystems™ EHR clients must supply standard hardware and support software for the operation of the product. In most cases, existing hardware/software infrastructure is sufficient to run the EmpowerSystems™ Inpatient+Ambulatory™ product, however upgrades may be required on a case-by-case basis. These additional costs are at the discretion of the hospital client and EmpowerSystems™ only provides standard recommendations on hardware and support software products.
Empower Systems™ provides 24/7/365 support for Emergent and Non-Emergent technical support issues related to the Empower products. The cost of this service is in addition to the Licensing fees required to utilize the EHR product. Clients are provided with Annual or Monthly billing options for the Maintenance & Support services. The price is dependent upon if the client utilizes all of the product suite or only a portion.
Are these costs/fees fixed, one-time, recurring, ongoing, monthly, transaction based, annual, etc.?
Hardware and support software costs will recur based on variables managed by the client’s information technology support staff. Replacing hardware is an ongoing technology expense for all hospitals. Support software expenses are recurring based on third party vendor requirements of licensing and upgrades. These are not within the control of EmpowerSystems™ nor to some extent the client.
Maintenance and support fees payable to Empower Systems™ are either annual or monthly and do not increase beyond industry standard increases.
What software must be purchased that is not included in the initial purchase of this software?
ConnectEHR licensing must be purchased for use with the Empower Systems™ EHR. As noted above, third party support software (Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL, etc.) must be purchased separately or be pre-existing within the clients I.T. infrastructure.
What kinds of services, functionality, or software are attributed to this cost?
Hardware and support software costs provide the physical point-of-use access for users and back-end operating system infrastructure. ConnectEHR provides patient portal functionality for clients to meet certification and meaningful use attestation threshold requirements. CQMsolution and PresenTense Time Client relate to Clinical Quality Measures functionality and reporting. Maintenance and support fees are required to provide 24/7/365 real-time support of Emergent and Non-Emergent technical support issues related to Empower Systems™ products.
Are there any limitations of workstations or licenses where the software is deployed, volume of transactions or usage, or associated bandwidth limitations?
Empower Systems™ places no limitations on workstations, volume of transactions or usage, or associated bandwidth limitations. These limitations may exists based on client facility logistics or the terms and conditions of hardware and support software vendors. Empower Systems™ does place limitations on licenses where the software is deployed. Clients cannot install the Empower Systems™ EHR at additional facilities without prior payment and/or approval by Empower Systems™ per the terms of the Licensing agreement.