Nadeau: financial managers becoming tougher MIS buyer - Joseph A. Nadeau; president of ComputeRx Consulting management information systems - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, Oct, 1991

As buyer of information systems, healthcare financial managers have become more knowledgeable and more astute about the systems and services they are using, according to Joseph A. Nadeau, who has been involved in management information systems (MIS) for 25 years, the last 17 as a consultant to healthcare organizations.

"[Healthcare financial managers] are taking the position of buying and not being sold information systems," said Nadeau, who is president of ComputeRx Consulting in Miami, Fla. "They are becoming better, much more informed purchasers of information systems' products and service."

He attributes this change to healthcare executives being exposed to previous decisions that had been either oversold, under budget, late on installation, or a combination thereof. Nadeau said the advent of personal computers and workstations also contributed to managements' awareness of the potential pitfalls in making information systems decisions.

"Management is justifiably much more demanding of the vendors and their own information systems departments. 'Caveat emptor' is definitely a slogan by which every HFMA member should live by when making MIS decisions."

And a more knowledgeable consumer, Nadeau said, understands the need for expertise when making purchasing decisions.

To respond to this trend in MIS decisions, Nadeau, a member of HFMA's Florida Chapter, has formed an affiliation with three other healthcare information systems consulting firms called the Alliance for Information Management. The affiliation allows Nadeau to offer clients information in areas such as telecommunications, management engineering, technology, and administrative and financial management because "it's easier to recommend people when you understand their ethics, abilities, and philosophies," he said.