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equirements you put together earlier in
the process. There should be no surprises;
these are items you should have been discussing
all along with your vendor. If the
vendor cannot provide an SLA you are
comfortable with, find a new one.
cloud contract
in. Your ultimate goal is to protect the organization
in case there is a problem. But remember,
the contract is only a piece of paper
and should be one component of your
overall continuity strategy. Pay attention to
the details and enjoy the sausage.
Penalties – This is where it gets a little
dicey. Generally, clients never think they
are punitive enough and vendors think
they are excessive. To be fair, penalties are
not there to ensure reimbursement of any
costs due to not meeting an SLA. They are
a deterrent to encourage the vendor to do
the right thing.
Breach – You need to determine the
situations you could potentially be put in
where you would want to end the contract
prior to the end of the term. This
will include various egregious actions by
the vendor but also should include the inability
to maintain SLAs. Penalties are not
going to cover all your losses. You should
include language for breaking the contract
if a vendor has a number of SLA failures
during a period of time, such as three
events in a single month.
Termination – Just as you carefully plan
how you are going to migrate your computing
services to the cloud, you need to
pay just as much attention to how you
would get them back in case you part
ways with the vendor. Chances are if you
are parting ways, it is not amicable. The
contract should be specific on what the
vendor and client responsibilities are and
specify timelines for critical activities. Another
area you may want to consider is
change of ownership or a bankruptcy. If
the vendor is acquired or goes bankrupt,
what are your rights? I address this by encouraging
the vendor to give the client a
termination option. This is especially important
if you dislike the new ownership.
Plan for Protection
There are numerous items that make up a
good contract, many of which are basic and
not included here. While negotiating the
contract, you need to keep visualizing the
worst possible situations you could be put
DREAMS, COLLABORATION
AND DETERMINATION
BUILT THIS HOSPITAL FROM
THE GROUND UP.
Seton Medical Center Harker Heights, Harker Heights,Texas
It started with 80 local physicians who saw a need for choice and dedicated
themselves to that goal. Their passion and determination led them to LHP and the
Seton Family of Hospitals, where a joint venture partnership offered the capital and
courage necessary to break ground during challenging economic times.
The result is the first hospital built in Bell County, Texas, in more than 35 years—
with an acclaimed healthcare team put together from the ground up, a state-of-the-art
shared-governance facility opened ahead of schedule and a dream fulfilled for
physicians who sought to improve healthcare choices and delivery for their patients.
If you’d like to hear more about LHP’s joint venture strategy and how it could work
for you, contact LHP CEO Dan Moen at (972) 943-1702. To learn more about
Seton Medical Center Harker Heights, visit www.SMCHHStory.com.
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