KLAS Rates Epic Firms in New Special Report – What About the Little Guys?
For the bargain price of $14,000, you can now buy the just released report titled, “Epic Consulting 2014; The Bumper Crop of Epic Consulting Firms.” The report rates 21 firms in various categories based on client survey responses. An additional 12 firms are also showcased, although they do not qualify for rankings as they do not meet the minimum requirements for number of clients. The big question is, what about all the other smaller boutique firms?
Smaller consulting companies aren’t included in these types of reports for two reasons. First, they don’t want to pay the huge membership fee, it’s called overhead and causes increased bill rates and reduced salaries for employees. Second, they would never qualify for rankings, because they focus on quality with small number of clients, not volume. Ok, so coming from the largest Epic firm, I’ll say KLAS rating was important to me back then. Do I sound bitter? If it’s all about the consultant, which has always been my motto…then I was wrong to think that way even when working for the big companies.
Just today, EMR Daily News released a story stating that “experience is not a good predictor of performance for Epic consulting firms.” I couldn’t agree more! The story goes on to state that the number of engagements completed by a firm is not necessarily a correlation to client satisfaction of the Epic consulting services provided. So great, 21 firms are all about volume, and pay KLAS to be a member so they can be ranked. I’m sure that the dozens of other boutique firms not mentioned in the report provide just as high quality consultants, without the high price tag. (I say this from experience, not just a whim). My walk away, this report is about volume…not quality.
The last report released in 2012, Navigating the Sea of Epic Consulting Firms, ranked 15 firms. So only 7 more firms have been added. I was surprised that number was so low. Companies listed in the 2012 report as Up and Coming Firms included:
| Advantage | Kforce |
| APEX | MedMatica |
| Cumberland | Modis |
| Dearborn Advisory | Morgan Hunter |
| ESD | Pivot Point |
| Health Date Specialists (HDS) | Quality IT Partners |
| IBM | Symphony |
| ICG | TEKsystems |
| IHS | Vonlay |
What happened to these guys? Here’s the facts folks. There are so many firms out there touting their Epic capabilities, clients have tons of choices. As a consultant, going with a top ranked firm may mean more project options, but certainly doesn’t mean quality.
Let me end with recognizing the winners though…in the catagory we all care about. Orchestrate Healthcare has already released their news of being ranked #1 as the top-ranked vendor agnostic healthcare IT consulting firm. This category is within Implementation Support and Staffing. Probably the most coveted category as all 21 firms ranked are primarily staffing firms. Congrats to all my colleagues at Orchestrate.
Airline On-Time Performance Ranking…JetBlue Continues To Be Last
The latest report once again shows Delta on top and JetBlue on the bottom. Discount airlines likes Southwest and JetBlue are on the bottom of this report, month after month, and year after year. What does surprise me is AirTran coming in at #4 above US Airways and well in front of United. I wish I flew Hawaiian every week, it seems they are always on time.
Has the Quality of Consultants Directly Impacted Bill Rates?
In reading yet another posting on EMR consultant rates, it had not occurred to me the idea that the quality of consultants is a potential direct impact of reduced rates. Check out http://concepcionguzman.com and read his story, “The #1 Reason EMR Consultants’s Rates Have Declined More than 35.9% Over the Last 5 Years.” I have to debate his findings, and look at this over the entire market space, not just go-live support and training.
No doubt the quality of resumes he suggests in his story, people who worked at Walmart and McDonald’s with only 2 go-lives under their belt, is something that is happening more and more. But only in the go-live and training arena. I assure you consultant firms are not hiring analysts, builders, testers, interface or report writers without the back ground required to fill these roles. The overall statement that consultant rates are dropping because of the quality of consultant is skewed, as many firms don’t even provide go-live support services. And for good reason!
I’ve written many stories on this topic, and continue to watch the consultant market become over saturated with firms and consultants. This is the simple concept of supply versus demand. A perfect example is this past week my firm received a need for a Resolute HB candidate. So did about 40 other firms, as that client uses a Vendor Management System. The VMS just sends the need out to everyone. On sites like LinkedIn, you could see the posting over and over and over, looking for candidates. The client will have the best of the best to pick from, and price point will be up to the consulting firm. With that in mind, it is my theory and suggestion that the decline in bill rate (and consultant compensation) continues to decline due to reduced demand in consultant needs and a high number of resources available.
Hiring practices for consultant services are clearly changing to meet demands. First time consultants may help with meeting margins, but often directly impact quality of service. KLAS ranks over 60 consultant firms, who all just poach from one another project after project. The days of consultants being at the same firm for 5+ years is quickly fading. It’s those firms that continue to focus on quality consultants at fair market bill rates that will succeed.
What are your thoughts? Seeing a reduction in your bill rate that is impacting your success?
Comparing Consultant Salaries to Epic’s Salary and Bonus Structure
This week several blogs shared an article that pointed to a reddit post about Epic’s salary, raise, and bonus structure. All kinds of interesting posts with an inside look can be found at http://www.reddit.com/r/epicsystems. I was especially interested in the salary piece, although other articles on being a mom while working at Epic or tatoos at Epic are very interesting as well.
The example given in the story from a TS hired in 2011 looks like this:
- Starting (June 2011): 60k
- Bonus (Holiday 2011): 8k
- Spot Bonus (Feb 2012): 1k
- TL Promotion (Mar 2012): No Raise/Bonus
- Year 1 Raise (June 2012): 76k (18%)
- Bonus (Holiday 2012): 6.5k
- Year 2 Raise (June 2013): 84k (10%)
- Left Epic August 2013
Let’s assume this is an average salary and bonus structure, for a job at Epic while living in the Madison, WI area. It’s really a very competitive salary. I went to Money.com to draw up a cost of living comparison. A base salary of $85K in Madison translated to $110K base in Boston, MA (where I live). That is not a far stretch from a typical consultant base salary. Cost of living is much more reasonable in Wisconsin for sure. But the average salary in Madison area is $51,000 based on indeed.com article. Wow, that is a considerable difference and great salary for someone being hired out of college.
I am watching bill rates continue to drop by consulting firms to remain competitive. Along with bill rates, salaries are also declining for Epic consultants. While just 3 years ago my consultants averaged $138 bill rate, today I see a $122 average. Average salaries have dropped from $130K to $118K (not including bonus). Taking the cost of living into consideration here…I may just apply to work at Epic. Don’t forget the benefit of cheese!!
What are your thoughts? Does Epic salary and bonus seem fair in the current market?
Cerner acquires Siemens, what does this really mean?
The big announcement this week, Cerner acquires Siemens. Well, not officially until 2015. This wasn’t a big surprise actually. Blogs including HISTalk have been suggesting this since May. Perhaps its the fact that there are only a handful of truly prominent Electronic Health Management vendors out there, and two of the biggest are merging. But the real question is what does this mean for consultants and our clients.
First, nothing is going to happen to Soarian customers. Period. So if you are supporting Siemens Soarian projects, no worries. The real impact would be to clients on an older Siemens system. They’ll obviously be forced into making decisions in the next year to either go with Cerner, or look elsewhere. It’s clear Siemens had no intention of updating its software, as they’ve lost more clients last year then all other vendors combined. In fact Siemens lost over 75 clients last year, followed by Cerner losing 35, and MEDITECH losing 25 (according to recent KLAS release). Notice no mention of Epic. They don’t lose clients.
The good news continues to be that Siemens Legacy support work will continue to grow. Remote help desk support for the next 3-5 years?! Sign me up! What will be interesting to watch is how Epic battles to keep it’s ability to tout that they service 51% of the US population. Cerner will no doubt impact continued growth of it’s client base by now having a jump ahead of the competition with current Siemens customers. What do you think? Good news or bad?
Delta Email Hoax…again
It appears Delta has been the target of yet another series of fraudulent emails claiming you have purchased a ticket with a virus on the attachment. You should delete these and ignore the message. These messages have apparently been sent to consumers in the last 24 hours.
Per Delta:
As with previous hoaxes, customers should be advised of the following:
These emails were not sent by Delta Air Lines.
Your personal information on file with Delta (such as SkyMiles Profile) has not been shared or compromised in any way.
You should not click on the link in the email or open any attachments.
Instead, you should simply delete the email from their inbox.
These e-mails claim that the recipient has purchased a Delta ticket, that a credit card has been charged, and that an invoice or receipt is attached to the e-mail. If you have received one of these emails, do not open the attachment as it may contain potentially dangerous viruses or other malware that may harm your computer.
Be assured that Delta did not send these emails, and our customers’ credit cards have not been charged as a result of the e-mails. These e-mails did not originate with Delta, nor do we believe that any personal information that our customers provided to us was used to generate these e-mails. We will continue to post updates on this page as additional information becomes available.
3 Years of Consultant-Tips.com
Three years ago my boss, at the time, suggested that I start a blog on travel tips, movies, restaurants, and hotels. Having spent the last 10 years on the road has certainly given me some great materials to write about. Having worked with so many consultants from all over the country has been such a fantastic experience, how could I not share. As you may have noticed, lately the blog has focused on consulting firms, vendors, and various changes happening in our industry. I hope you like the transition. I always want to remain positive and constructive, so please call me out if I slip.
I’m excited to share that I’ll be focusing on all of the above for the rest of this year and will be doing a summer themed group of articles.
Thank you for all your support over the years. As always, please share your thoughts and suggestions with me anytime.
Doug
Consulting Firm Mergers and Acquisitions Galore!
Quintiles, a drug research company, just acquired Encore. Cumberland just acquired CIPE. It seems every other day we are hearing of another consulting firm being bought out. In my ten years in this industry I’ve been through a couple of these, and they are not fun at all. Sometimes the impact to the consultant and firm is minimum while other times it tears the very foundation apart. The question is what can you do as a consultant, if anything?
These small private owned successful companies are trying to compete. KLAS reports on some 50+ firms offering HIT consulting services. As a consultant, it can be frustrating to see your company get sold. My advise has always been, if you like your contract and the people you work with…stay. If the internal politics and change to culture is directly impacting your ability to be successful and happy…leave.
I get calls daily from consultants looking for new opportunities for the wrong reasons. Don’t leave your firm just because it sold. Leave because if it is not a fit for you anymore. I have come to believe no one is safe. When the right time, and price tag comes, these firms are going to be bought. I find that focusing on contract opportunities that are long term and challenging can limit your exposure to the politics and changes.
There will always be a handful of small companies that want to stay independently owned. Those companies will be challenged as the billion dollar companies bring in 10x as many sales people and recruiters. I find energy spent looking at what everyone else is doing is a waste of time. I know my clients are happy and my consultants love their job. Keep doing what you are doing and make your clients happy. You won’t even notice the new name on your email address.
Multi City Ticket vs Multiple One Way Tickets
We all know that airlines are pricing tickets based on initial city with final destination and whether you have connections. But what if you have to make several over night stops for business? With a 4 city tour coming up, I decided to see what the variance would be in pricing if I bought a single multi-city ticket or bought each flight separately. The savings for doing these individually was staggering.
One Way Tickets
The first leg of my upcoming trip has me flying BOS-SEA direct on Alaska Airlines. Cost – $195
Leg two is SEA-ABQ with connection through SLC on Delta. – Cost – $163
Leg three is ABQ-SLC on Delta for a one day conference. – Cost – $139
Final leg, the most expensive is SLT-BOS direct on Delta – Cost – $591
Total for everything comes to $1088.
Cheapest Multi-City Ticket
If I wanted to use the same airline, Delta for example, additional connections were needed.
Leg one required a connection on Delta through SLC or MNP.
Leg two is SEA-ABQ with connection through SLC on Delta was the same.
Leg three is ABQ-SLC on Delta was the same.
Final leg, from SLT-BOS required a red eye to get a lower price and direct on Delta.
Total for everything comes to $1783…plus taxes, fees, and charges bringing it to $1943.47!
No doubt a savings of almost $900, direct flight options with different airlines, and freedom of changing times if needed per flight…leaves the clear choice as single one way tickets.
Check out your one way flight options. Any price savings? Share your comments by clicking the leave a reply option.
Duplicate Firm Submissions…Causing Rejected Candidates
New opportunities are presented to firms in mass emails, job boards, and third party systems. Sales and recruiting team members monitor these to have a quick response time for candidate submissions. Firms with benched resources, those between projects, are usually submitted right away. If you are on the bench, some firms won’t even notify you that you are being submitted. The problem of duplicate submissions happens when those consultants who have started to reach out to other firms are submitted, but have not resigned and therefore were submitted by their current firm. The end result is disastrous for both firms and the consultant.
Let’s first look at this from the client’s perspective. They don’t need to be involved in a bidding war, nor do they have the time. To protect the client, any candidate that was submitted by more than one firm is automatically disqualified and rejected for the position. Regardless of who submitted the candidate first, both firms are notified of the duplication. The bad news for the consultant is they now lost out. Firms that submit candidates without notifying them, whether potential new hires or benched employees, need to rethink their process. They are only hurting themselves and their employees.
As a consultant there are several things you can do to minimize duplicate submissions. The most important thing is to tell your current firm that you want to be notified of being submitted and approve it first. If you are interviewing with other firms, let them know you are still on an active bench and may be submitted for other opportunities. It should always be up to the consultant where they want to be submitted, by whom, and when. The hard fact is that if you don’t resign, some firms may terminate you for failure to disclose that you have been seeking alternate opportunities.
A tricky curve ball has been added to the mix by some newer, not so ethical firms, that blind submit candidates. These firms will submit their candidates from a combination of resumes created from LinkedIn, initial recruiting calls, and job boards. Their assumption is you are looking. Their play with the client is “we have this resource,” and if they are interested in talking to you…then you’ll receive a call. I call it ‘reverse recruiting.’ Another words, they are getting the client’s interest first, then going after the candidate. I’ve had dozens of consultants complain about this practice in just the last month, and all have not been selected because of duplicate submission.
In reality all firms are vying for the same positions at the same time…and often with the same candidates. Put yourself in front of this competitive curve ball by communicating and limiting access to your resume. Be sure that you trust the firm and people you are talking to. Your resume is what gets you an interview. Your firm and their recruiters are only a tool to get you there…don’t let them turn into a threatening weapon.
Have experiences or thoughts on the subject? Share your comments below.
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