KLAS

Description
KLAS is a Utah Based Health Informatics research company that "**helps healthcare providers** make informed technology decisions by offering **accurate, honest, and impartial** vendor performance information."[[|1]] The company has been collecting ratings on healthcare industry software since 1997.

Research Focus
KLAS focuses solely on the healthcare industry technology and conducts research in three main categories.

Software
KLAS has been gathering ratings on the performance of healthcare software since 1997. The ratings that KLAS generates are used by healthcare providers to determine which software package is right for their office. [[|2]]

Professional Service Firms
"Since 2004, KLAS has been gathering ratings on firms that deliver professional services to healthcare providers. KLAS reports on several services markets, a few of which include: implementation, planning and assessment, vendor selection, technical consulting, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing."[[|2]]

Medical Equipment
"In 2005 KLAS began a research initiative on medical equipment. KLAS continues to research medical equipment topics, such as CR/DR and MRI scanners. Online performance ratings for medical equipment vendors and products are now available."[[|2]]

Research Methodology
KLAS outlines a very specific set of criteria that they apply to their rating system.

Software & Medical Equipment [[|3]]
"The overall performance rating is calculated from individual scores for each of 40 criteria. The 40 criteria consist of 28 Performance Indicators (PI), rated on a scale of 1-9, where 1=poor and 9=excellent, and 12 Business Indicators (BI) where the rating is a “yes” or “no”. The PIs account for 70 percent of the rating and the BI (scored on the percent of “yes” responses) account for the remaining 30 percent of the rating. Each question is weighted equally. The total score is based on a 100-point scale.
 * Key questions that are covered in software and medical equipment evaluations are as follows:**
 * * How long with product?
 * Money's worth
 * Would you buy it again
 * Vendor is improving
 * Vendor executive involvement
 * Contract is complete
 * Keeps all promises
 * Product works as promoted
 * Product has needed functionality
 * System response time
 * Quality of implementation staff
 * Implementation within budget/cost
 * Quality of telephone/web support
 * Proactive service
 * Quality of releases or updates
 * Quality of custom work
 * Technology easy to implement & support
 * Quality and timeliness of interfaces
 * Helps your job performance
 * Recommend to a friend/peer || * Lived up to expectations
 * Worth the effort
 * Part of long-term plan
 * Delivery of new technology
 * Contracting experience
 * Avoids nickel and diming
 * Good job selling
 * Product quality rating
 * Ease of use
 * Quality of implementation
 * Implementation on time
 * Quality of training
 * Support costs as expected
 * Production errors addressed quickly
 * Timely enhancement releases
 * Quality of documentation
 * Supports integration goals
 * 3rd party prod. works w/ vendor prod.
 * Overall satisfaction with vendor/product
 * Average overall vendor ranking ||

Professional Service Firms [[|3]]
The overall performance rating is calculated from individual scores, each with equal weighting, from 17 indicators. Twelve (12) performance indicators, rated on a scale of 1-9 (where 1 = poor and 9 = excellent) account for 70.6 percent of the score. Five (5) “yes” or “no” business indicators (scored on percentage of “yes” responses) account for the remaining 29.4 percent of the score. The total score is based on a 100-point scale. Two (2) additional scoping questions (which are not included in the total score) complete the evaluation, for a total of 19 criteria.
 * Key questions that are covered in professional service firm evaluations:**
 * * When was the project completed?
 * Money's worth
 * Would you buy it again
 * Contracting experience
 * Keeps all promises
 * Service delivery on time
 * Quality of services staff
 * Helps your job performance
 * Recommend to a friend/peer
 * Average overall ranking || * Lived up to expectations
 * Worth the effort
 * Executive involvement
 * Avoids nickel and diming
 * Services delivered as promoted
 * Services delivered within budget/cost
 * Real problem resolution
 * Overall satisfaction
 * Overall costs ||

For Providers
KLAS offers an entire section of their web site to providers so that they can have access to vendor ratings and an online vendor rating form. [[|4]]

For Vendors & Consultants
KLAS offers an entire section of their web site to vendors and consultants that promotes why they should use KLAS research data for their company, how a company can work with KLAS, the products and services that KLAS offers to vendors, their data research policy, and custom research. [[|5]]

Company Trivia [[|1]]

 * KLAS is independently owned and operated.
 * KLAS' founder is Kent L. Gale.
 * The name “KLAS” (pronounced like the word “class”), comes from the first initials of the founder’s names: Kent Gale, Leonard Black, Adam Gale and Scott Holbrook.
 * KLAS is headquartered in Orem, Utah, with independent researchers working throughout the country.
 * KLAS focuses solely on healthcare technology.