The Total Economic Impact™ Of Rhapsody Healthcare Data Integration Solutions
Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Rhapsody
A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Commissioned By Rhapsody, July 2024
Healthcare data integration solutions have become increasingly crucial for organizations operating in the dynamic healthcare landscape. As healthcare delivery systems digitize their processes and generate data, seamless communication between disparate points of service is essential. The digital health enablement platform from Rhapsody includes health data integration solutions that not only streamline data flow and but position organizations to thrive in a data-driven, patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.
Rhapsody is a healthcare solution software developer. Its digital health enablement solutions offer services and tools to securely integrate and accurately identify health data across systems, accelerating digital innovation. It enables healthcare teams to achieve data interoperability, which is crucial for seamless communication and efficient workflows in the healthcare ecosystem. By addressing data connectivity and quality challenges, Rhapsody helps organizations innovate, realize revenue faster, and optimize resource productivity. Rhapsody commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Rhapsody Digital Health Enablement Solutions.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Rhapsody on their organizations.
Return on investment (ROI)
193%
Net present value (NPV)
$1.59M
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed four representatives with experience using Rhapsody. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the health system IDN and health technology vendor interviewees’ experiences and combined the results into a single composite organization, a US-based health technology organization that generates $25 million in revenue annually across global operations. Readers can apply the TEI data to their own organization by extrapolating the benefits and investments of the composite organization. By using these methods, health system readers can tailor the insights from the TEI study to better reflect their unique financial and operational contexts.
Interviewees said that prior to using Rhapsody, their organizations leveraged a mixture of point, homegrown, and customized integration solutions. Prior efforts led to a variety of challenges, including high complexity and operational overhead to manage an unstructured approach to connecting patient data, a lack of expertise across internal integration engineering teams, and further time-consuming efforts to create and manage application integrations.
After investing in Rhapsody, the interviewees streamlined their integration capabilities, including electronic health record (EHR) connectivity, onto a single platform; this resulted in improved integration engineering and analyst efficiency, faster time to market, new revenue opportunities, and reduced integration engineer ramp-up time.
Key Findings
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
- Avoiding the cost of additional hires due to engineer efficiencies, which is worth $1.0 million over three years. With Rhapsody, the composite organization streamlines healthcare interface development. Its engineers benefit from intuitive tools, standardized protocols, scripting components, and scalability, reducing development time compared to manual integrations. Rhapsody enables the composite organization to avoid the cost of additional engineering and analyst hires and empowers its integration engineers to work efficiently, focus their time on strategic tasks, and achieve better outcomes.
- Meeting product demand and improving its time to market, which is valued at $797,000 over three years. Rhapsody improves time to market for the composite organization compared to prior integration methods. Rhapsody solutions streamline its integration creation and configuration process, allowing for quicker system integration. Efficient data exchange ensures seamless communication between its healthcare applications, leading to faster development cycles. Rhapsody expertise and support also helps the composite organization focus on core development while leveraging proven technology and achieving faster time to revenue. The integrations it builds with Rhapsody ensure data quality during migration and onboarding, leading to faster project delivery.
- Providing its customers with a seamless, holistic deployment experience, which impacts net revenue by $336,000 over three years. Rhapsody enhances healthcare data exchange, streamlines integration processes, ensures higher accuracy, and speeds up time to value for the composite organization. It consolidates and improves the deployment experience, allowing the composite organization to focus on new revenue streams to drive profit.
- Avoiding disruptions and gaining other development efficiencies, which total $242,000 over three years. The integration development team saves considerable time avoiding unexpected disruptions for deployed interfaces. Furthermore, thanks to a better experience for engineers, clients also benefit from not having to spend time onboarding replacement engineering resources. By centralizing patient data integration capabilities with Rhapsody, the composite organization optimizes operating overhead, driving further cost savings and enabling more focus on innovation.
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
- Enhanced customer and patient experiences that promote confidence. Rhapsody ensures effective data exchange between and within healthcare systems for the composite organization, leading to accurate patient records and timely information sharing. With smoother clinical experiences, clinicians reduce their burden and can focus on patient care rather than technical complexities.
- More efficient workflows that improve the employee experience. Due to the centralization and consolidation of necessary data, Rhapsody simplifies and streamlines engineer workflows for the composite organization, reducing the burden on its internal teams. Efficient data configuration, standardized protocols, and centralized monitoring enable efficient workflows, enhancing overall employee satisfaction.
- Better security control standards. The composite organization benefits from Rhapsody’s secure data exchange environment, which helps it ensure compliance with global data privacy and protection regulations and maintain customer and patient trust. The composite organization also avoids potential financial penalties associated with data breach and privacy issues.
- Strong relationship with Rhapsody team. The composite organization benefits from a close and responsive partnership with the Rhapsody team, which provides timely assistance and problem solving. This helps the composite organization maximize its value from Rhapsody solutions.
- Improving data quality. By centralizing its integration processes and data, the composite organization can identify areas of poor data. This ensures improved data quality and stewardship processes, benefiting its end customers.
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
- Total fees to Rhapsody of $397,000. The composite organization pays an annual subscription fee and platform fee to Rhapsody based on the organization’s size, size and number of data connections, and licensing agreements.
- Initial and ongoing costs of $431,000. The composite organization incurs initial and ongoing costs on top of their fees to Rhapsody. This includes upfront and ongoing labor to create and manage patient data connections and initial and ongoing training for integration analysts and engineers.
The representative interviews and financial analysis found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $2.42 million over three years versus costs of $828,000, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $1.59 million and an ROI of 193%.
Key Statistics
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Return on investment (ROI)
193%
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Benefits PV
$2.42M
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Net present value (NPV)
$1.59M
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Payback
<6 months
Benefits (Three-Year)
Avoided integration engineering and analyst hires Improved time to market Business acceleration and increment net operating revenue attributed to improved deployment experience Improved engineer and analyst efficiencyTEI Framework And Methodology
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in Rhapsody.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Rhapsody can have on an organization.
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Due Diligence
Interviewed Rhapsody stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Rhapsody.
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Interviews
Interviewed four representatives at organizations using Rhapsody to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
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Composite Organization
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
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Financial Model Framework
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
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Case Study
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Rhapsody and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Rhapsody.
Rhapsody reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Rhapsody provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Consulting Team:
Rachel Ballard
Luca Son
Drivers leading to the Rhapsody investment
Interviews
| Role | Type Of Organization | Region | Number Of Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate VP of applications and interoperability | Healthcare provider, integrated delivery network (IDN) | US | 25,000+ |
| Chief technical architect | Health technology, specializing in medical device software and hardware | US with global operations | 20,000+ |
| Chief information officer | Health technology, specializing in AI surgical platforms | US with global operations | 200+ |
| Integration contractor | Health technology, specializing in patient engagement software development | US | 50+ |
Key Challenges
Prior to Rhapsody, interviewees used several other middleware point solutions, which were typically customized and homegrown; they varied due to acquisitions or team preferences. The interviewees noted how their organizations struggled with common challenges, including:
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Unstructured, unconsolidated approaches to connecting patient data. Interviewees said their organizations struggled with managing patient and health data across various systems and formats. Organizations did not have structured protocols and needed to standardize integrations. Disparate middleware tools often led to fragmented data, making it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of patient health. This prohibited consistency, growth, and scalability.
The associate VP of applications and interoperability at a healthcare provider stated: “[Before Rhapsody] we didn’t have a structured protocol. People were not sending and passing messages using defined standards.” The CIO at a health technology organization shared: “We needed to consolidate our multiple solutions to a consistent, standardized way of acquiring data and creating data injection pipelines to our platform. It wasn’t very scalable before [Rhapsody].” - Lack of expertise across the internal integration development team. Integrating systems in healthcare requires specialized knowledge and skill sets like HL7. Interviewees said their organizations lacked the in-house expertise to handle complex and customer integrations effectively. Complex and unstructured environments led to further requirements for technical and bespoke skills. The integration contractor at a health technology organization relayed, “[Our prior solution] was very hard and complicated to support.”
- Customized integrations were time consuming and resource heavy. Interviewees said customizing middleware solutions for each integration project took time and required many resources. Customized solutions required more maintenance and dedicated labor when issues occurred. Maintaining integrations across disparate solutions resulted in duplicative efforts.
Why Rhapsody?
The interviewees’ organizations searched for a solution that could offer:
- The ability to scale connections with a standardized protocol. Interviewees said Rhapsody helped standardize protocols, such as HL7, FHIR, or DICOM, to allow communication between healthcare systems. This allowed them to scale their network of connections without compromising data integrity.
- The ability to configure data more accurately and quickly. Interviewees selected Rhapsody because it simplified data mapping and transformation. The chief technical architect at a health technology organization said: “[Our experience with Rhapsody has been] very positive. It is a very easy to administer system. It lets teams use Java scripting, which is an easy (readily available) skill set to go out into the marketplace and find. It has done a good job of creating dashboards within the product that allow teams to monitor what‘s going on without having to interact with the tooling. There hasn’t been anything we couldn’t integrate. From our perspective, it’s been excellent because of its flexibility.”
- A strong reputation that was recognized across the industry. Interviewees selected Rhapsody due to its reliable and trusted reputation in the healthcare space. The CIO at a health technology organization said: “The Rhapsody iPaaS solution is a winning equation for us. The software itself is reputable in the marketplace, and Rhapsody is good at the integrating healthcare data.”
Investment Objectives
The interviewees’ organizations searched for a solution that could:
- Improve the time to market for products and services.
- Generate additional revenue by enabling their engineering teams to provide a more holistic experience.
- Enhance productivity for their engineering teams.
- Scale according to expansion plans.
- Reduce the need for new headcount to meet growing integration needs.
Composite Organization
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite company, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the four interviewees, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The US-based health technology composite organization generates $25 million in recurring revenue annually across global operations. Prior to Rhapsody, the composite relied on several homegrown custom integration point solutions. The composite organization employs two integration engineers.
Deployment characteristics. The composite organization replaces its point solutions with Rhapsody, beginning with one integration in the initial rollout and scaling the number of patient data connections to 15 per year for the following three years.
Quantified benefit data as applied to the composite
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Avoided integration engineering and analyst hires | $421,200 | $421,200 | $421,200 | $1,263,600 | $1,047,462 |
| Btr | Improved time to market | $320,625 | $320,625 | $320,625 | $961,875 | $797,347 |
| Ctr | Business acceleration and incremental net operating revenue attributed to improved deployment experience | $135,000 | $135,000 | $135,000 | $405,000 | $335,725 |
| Dtr | Improved engineer and analyst efficiency | $97,171 | $97,171 | $97,171 | $291,514 | $241,650 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $973,996 | $973,996 | $973,996 | $2,921,989 | $2,422,184 | |
Avoided Integration Engineering And Analyst Hires
Evidence and data. Interviewees told Forrester that Rhapsody streamlined interface development with its low-code to code-free integration solution. Prior environments before Rhapsody were siloed, lacked standardization, and resulted in additional and duplicative work for engineers. With Rhapsody, integration developers and analysts benefited from intuitive tools, standardized protocols, scripting components, and scalability, reducing development time compared to manual integrations. Overall, Rhapsody empowered engineers to work efficiently, focus their time on strategic tasks, and achieve better outcomes.
- A healthcare provider IDN improved its throughput threefold compared to its legacy environment. The associate VP of applications and interoperability reported: “Before Rhapsody, it took us anywhere between five to six weeks to build and move from a testing environment to user accepted testing (UAT) to a production environment. [With Rhapsody] I’ve seen my folks turn around interfaces in less than a week. The throughput in our capabilities of manifesting and expediting interfaces has grown probably three times over because of Rhapsody.”
- One health technology company purported savings that cut the time to configure integrations to one-third of what it was in its legacy environment. The integration contractor mentioned: “It’s much easier to create those integrations and how much time we spend into one integration configuration. [Before Rhapsody] it could have taken one week. Right now, it’s three times less.”
- One way interviewees captured cost savings was by quantifying the labor required to match the same capabilities achieved with Rhapsody. The CIO at a health technology organization told Forrester: “We would probably need a team of three to four integration engineers versus the one or two [Rhapsody] sent to us. They’re obviously more efficient, more experienced.” The CIO continued: “The Rhapsody solution helps us save money and focus on our own core competencies.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- By adopting Rhapsody, the composite organization avoids four new engineer hires needed to keep up with the growing number of integrations.
- The average fully burdened annual salary for an integration engineer is $117,000.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Deployment size and organization maturity.
- Integration engineer support, expertise, and compensation.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.0 million.
Avoided Integration Engineering And Analyst Hires
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Number of engineers that would be required to map, integrate, and deploy healthcare data without Rhapsody | Interviews | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| A2 | Fully burdened annual salary for an integration engineer | TEI standard | $117,000 | $117,000 | $117,000 |
| At | Avoided integration engineering and analyst hires | A1*A2 | $468,000 | $468,000 | $468,000 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | ||||
| Atr | Avoided integration engineering and analyst hires (risk-adjusted) | $421,200 | $421,200 | $421,200 | |
| Three-year total: $1,263,600 | Three-year present value: $1,047,462 | ||||
Improved Time To Market
Evidence and data. Interviewees told Forrester that Rhapsody improved their time to market compared to prior integration methods. Rhapsody tools streamlined the integration creation and configuration process, allowing for quicker system integrations. Efficient data exchange ensured adequate communication between applications, leading to faster development and deployment cycles. Rhapsody’s expertise and customer success team also helped interviewees’ organizations focus on core development while leveraging proven technology and achieving faster time to revenue. Integrations built with Rhapsody better ensured data quality during migration, leading to faster project delivery.
- The CIO at a health technology organization said: “[Rhapsody] brings efficiency and cost savings around the implementation cycle. … In addition to the speed to market, one intangible benefit includes brand recognition, which identifies Rhapsody as a leader.”
- An integration contractor at a health technology organization shared: “We can update things days earlier with Rhapsody and with just one person. Before it would take three people.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The total annual revenue less new revenue attributed to an improved deployment experience is $23,750,000.
- The composite organization improves its time to market by 30 days per customer onboarded.
- There are 15 patient data connections created per year.
- The composite organization gains 10% of the faster time to market revenue due to improved cash flow, increased liquidity, reduced financing costs, and enhanced working capital management.
- The operating profit margin is 12%.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Annual revenue and margin.
- Deployment size.
- Number of integrations created.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $797,000.
Improved Time To Market
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Total annual revenue less new revenue attributed to improved deployment experience | Composite | $23,750,000 | $23,750,000 | $23,750,000 | |
| B2 | Revenue per day less new revenue attributed to improved deployment experience | B1/360 days | $65,972 | $65,972 | $65,972 | |
| B3 | Time to market improvement (days) | Interviews | 30 | 30 | 30 | |
| B4 | Number of patient data connections per year | Composite | 15 | 15 | 15 | |
| B5 | Percentage gain due to time to market improvement | Assumption | 10% | 10% | 10% | |
| B6 | Operating profit margin | Composite | 12% | 12% | 12% | |
| Bt | Improved time to market | B2*B3*B4*B5*B6 | $356,250 | $356,250 | $356,250 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Btr | Improved time to market (risk-adjusted) | $320,625 | $320,625 | $320,625 | ||
| Three-year total: $961,875 | Three-year present value: $797,347 | |||||
Business Acceleration And Incremental Net Operating Revenue Attributed To Improved Deployment Experience
Evidence and data. Interviewees said Rhapsody enhanced data exchange, streamlined integration processes, ensured higher accuracy, and sped up time to value. Their organizations enhanced the deployment experience for customers and, in turn, generated greater net revenue. One interviewee leveraged Rhapsody to accelerate customer integration timelines and improve the customer onboarding experience. The chief technical architect at a healthcare technology software development organization said: “[Rhapsody] has improved the bottom-line financials for sure because it’s an incredibly important part of the solution.” Separately, an integration contractor at a health technology organization told Forrester, “As an estimate, our revenue increased 10%, and that’s because of integration.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The total annual revenue is $25,000,000.
- The composite organization realizes net new operating revenue of 5% due to an improved, more holistic deployment experience.
- The composite organization’s net operating profit margin is 12%.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Annual revenue and margin.
- Scale of deployments and integration services.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $336,000.
Business Acceleration And Incremental Net Operating Revenue Attributed To Improved Deployment Experience
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Total annual revenue | Composite | $25,000,000 | $25,000,000 | $25,000,000 | |
| C2 | Percent revenue attributed to improved deployment experience | Composite | 5% | 5% | 5% | |
| C3 | Net operating profit margin | Composite | 12% | 12% | 12% | |
| Ct | Business acceleration and incremental net operating revenue attributed to improved deployment experience | C1*C2*C3 | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Ctr | Business acceleration and incremental net operating revenue attributed to improved deployment experience (risk adjusted) | $135,000 | $135,000 | $135,000 | ||
| Three-year total: $405,000 | Three-year present value: $335,725 | |||||
Improved Engineer And Analyst Efficiency
Evidence and data. Interviewees told Forrester that Rhapsody enhanced integration efficiency by minimizing the overhead required for post-deployment integration adjustments and improving the speed to ramp up new engineers. Prior integration tools and methods were disjointed, leading to human-capital-intensive issues. By centralizing integration capabilities onto Rhapsody, interviewees’ organizations avoided post-deployment intervention costs altogether. Rhapsody’s reliability and high-availability features enhanced the continuity of performance in interviewees’ complex healthcare environments. An integration contractor at a health technology firm told Forrester: “All the alerts are coming as soon as possible. We can easily monitor if something went wrong, and we need to step in. It’s gone from a few hours to 15 minutes.”
Separately, interviewees found that Rhapsody streamlined the time to ramp up new engineers. The integration contractor at a health technology organization said: “It’s much easier to hire a new employee [with Rhapsody]. We have trainings based on our solutions and framework that we built, and we can propose all of this to our newcomer, and it gets much easier because it’s logical, it’s structured, it’s well organized.” The same interviewee continued: “All people are working within the same tool; if there is one person not present today or on vacation and there is an ongoing project, it’s much easier for another person to step in and handle the situation. We have a rotation within the team that everyone should be able to read the configuration, as it’s pretty standard. That wouldn’t be possible with our old platforms where everything was customized.”
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite organization faces seven disruptions per week requiring intervention and saves 5 hours per disruption post-deployment.
- One integration engineer is replaced per month (vacation, illness, attrition), and each replacement saves 9 hours in ramping up on an existing project.
- The fully burdened hourly rate for an integration engineer is $56.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Number of interventions required per week.
- Deployment size.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $242,000.
Improved Engineer And Analyst Efficiency
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Number of disruptions per week requiring intervention | Composite | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| D2 | Time required per disruption requiring intervention in the legacy environment (hours) | Interviews | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| D3 | Time required per disruption requiring intervention post-deployment (hours) | Interviews | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| D4 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an integration engineer | A2/2,080 | $56 | $56 | $56 |
| D5 | Subtotal: Integration team efficiencies gained due to the reduction in disruptions requiring intervention | (D1*52)*(D2-D3)*D4 | $101,920 | $101,920 | $101,920 |
| D6 | Number of integration engineer replacements required per month | Interviews | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| D7 | Time required to ramp up on an existing integration prior to adopting Rhapsody (hours) | Interviews | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| D8 | Time required to ramp up on an existing integration post-deployment (hours) | Interviews | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| D9 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an integration engineer | D4 | $56 | $56 | $56 |
| D10 | Subtotal: Time saved ramping up a replacement integration engineer on an existing integration | (D6*12)*(D7-D8)*D9 | $6,048 | $6,048 | $6,048 |
| Dt | Improved engineer and analyst efficiency | D5+D10 | $107,968 | $107,968 | $107,968 |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | ||||
| Dtr | Improved engineer and analyst efficiency (risk-adjusted) | $97,171 | $97,171 | $97,171 | |
| Three-year total: $291,514 | Three-year present value: $241,650 | ||||
Unquantified Benefits
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
- Enhanced customer and patient experiences that promote confidence. Interviewees noted that Rhapsody ensured seamless data exchange between healthcare systems, leading to accurate patient records and timely information sharing. Patients experienced smoother clinical experiences, resulting in greater confidence. The VP of applications and interoperability at a healthcare provider said, “I would say the clinical experience is more streamlined, more effective, more efficient, and timelier, which eventually impacts the overall better patient experience.”
- More efficient workflows that improve the employee experience. Interviewees said Rhapsody simplified integration workflows, reducing the burden on internal teams. Efficient data configuration and standardized protocols enabled quick workarounds, enhancing overall employee satisfaction. Healthcare employees could shift their focus to patient care rather than technical complexities. The associate VP of applications and interoperability at a healthcare provider stated, “If I told [our integration development team] I was taking Rhapsody away and making them go to a different system, they wouldn’t be very happy with me.”
- Better security control standards. Interviewees told Forrester they benefited from Rhapsody’s secure data exchange environment, which helped ensure they complied with privacy regulations and avoided potential fines related to privacy and security breaches. The associate VP of applications and interoperability at a healthcare provider mentioned: “All kinds of rules of the road are embedded in their security modules and their documentation … that helps us meet the requirements of either change management or security.”
- A strong relationship with the Rhapsody team. Interviewees’ organizations benefited from a close and responsive partnership with the Rhapsody team. Interviewees noted the Rhapsody teams provided timely assistance and problem solving, ensuring they received the maximum value from Rhapsody solutions. The associate VP of applications and interoperability at a healthcare provider commented, “We worked very, very closely with them and had a wonderful relationship.”
- Improving data quality. By streamlining and centralizing its integration processes and data, the composite organization strategically uncovers any deficiencies in data, thereby paving the way for enhanced data quality and stewardship practices. This, in turn, directly benefits its end customers by ensuring a more refined and reliable data experience.
Flexibility
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Rhapsody and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
- Scalability to meet business needs. Interviewees told Forrester that Rhapsody can better handle their increased data volumes, new interfaces, and additional endpoints than prior solutions. This allowed organizations to handle growing demands without compromising performance or reliability, providing a foundation for long-term success.
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Quantified cost data as applied to the composite
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etr | Total fees to Rhapsody | $0 | $159,500 | $159,500 | $159,500 | $478,500 | $396,653 |
| Ftr | Initial and ongoing costs | $22,176 | $165,088 | $165,088 | $162,624 | $514,976 | $430,874 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $22,176 | $324,588 | $324,588 | $322,124 | $993,476 | $827,527 | |
Total Fees To Rhapsody
Evidence and data. Interviewees paid an annual subscription fee and platform fee to Rhapsody. Pricing varied based on factors like organization size, size and number of data connections, licensing agreements, and additional features.
- Pricing may vary. Contact Rhapsody for additional details.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite pays for 15 patient data connections per year.
- The composite organization pays an additional platform fee.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Deployment complexity and scale.
- Organization maturity, internal expertise, and integration engineer salary.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $397,000.
Total Fees To Rhapsody
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Annual implementation fee for 15 patient data connections | Interviews | $100,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 | ||
| E2 | Annual platform fee | Interviews | $45,000 | $45,000 | $45,000 | ||
| Et | Total fees to Rhapsody | E1+E2 | $145,000 | $145,000 | $145,000 | ||
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | ||||||
| Etr | Total fees to Rhapsody (risk-adjusted) | $159,500 | $159,500 | $159,500 | |||
| Three-year total: $478,500 | Three-year present value: $396,653 | ||||||
Initial And Ongoing Costs
Evidence and data. Interviewees incurred initial and ongoing costs on top of their fees to Rhapsody. This typically included upfront and ongoing labor to create and manage patient data connections and initial and ongoing training for integration engineers.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
- The composite creates one patient data connection in the initial period and 15 in Years 1 to 3.
- Each integration requires 160 hours of engineering time.
- Each integration engineer undergoes 20 hours of ongoing training per year.
- The composite organization dedicates 20 hours per month to the ongoing management of Rhapsody.
Risks. Forrester recognizes that these results may not be representative of all experiences. The impact of this benefit will vary depending on:
- Deployment complexity and scale.
- Organization maturity, internal expertise, and integration engineer salary.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $431,000.
Initial And Ongoing Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Number of patient data connections per year | Composite | 1 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |
| F2 | Number of internal integration engineer FTEs required per patient data connection | Interviews | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| F3 | Internal time required per patient data connection (hours) | Interviews | 160 | 160 | 160 | 160 | |
| F4 | Fully burdened hourly rate for an integration engineer | A2/2,080 hours | $56 | $56 | $56 | $56 | |
| F5 | Subtotal: Internal implementation costs | F1*F2*F3*F4 | $17,920 | $134,400 | $134,400 | $134,400 | |
| F6 | Initial and ongoing training | 20 hours/year per integration engineer*F4 | $2,240 | $2,240 | $2,240 | $2,240 | |
| F7 | Ongoing management | 20 hours/month* 12 months*F4 | $13,440 | $13,440 | $13,440 | ||
| Ft | Initial and ongoing costs | F5+F6+F7 | $20,160 | $150,080 | $150,080 | $147,840 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↑10% | ||||||
| Ftr | Initial and ongoing costs (risk-adjusted) | $22,176 | $165,088 | $165,088 | $162,624 | ||
| Three-year total: $514,976 | Three-year present value: $430,874 | ||||||
Consolidated Three-Year, Risk-Adjusted Metrics
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Total costs Total benefits Cumulative net benefits-
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted Estimates)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | ($22,176) | ($324,588) | ($324,588) | ($322,124) | ($993,476) | ($827,527) |
| Total benefits | $0 | $973,996 | $973,996 | $973,996 | $2,921,989 | $2,422,184 |
| Net benefits | ($22,176) | $649,408 | $649,408 | $651,872 | $1,928,513 | $1,594,657 |
| ROI | 193% | |||||
| Payback | <6 months | |||||
Appendix A: Total Economic Impact
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Total Economic Impact Approach
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Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire organization.
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Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.
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Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
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Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
Appendix B: Supplemental Material
Related Forrester Research
Why CX For Healthcare: Proof That Investing In Experience Improves Revenue, Cost, And Resilience, Forrester Research, Inc., April 8, 2023.
The Future Of Healthcare: Success In 2030 Hinges On Customer Obsession And Agility, Forrester Research, Inc., February 1, 2024.
Appendix C: Endnotes
1 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
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