Board approves five‑year HealthStream contract for staff training and policy platform
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The Western County Health Services Board approved a five‑year contract with HealthStream for continuing education, policy content and skills training, capped at $104,592.22 payable over five years with an opt‑out clause and requirement that the product meet compliance needs.
The Western County Health Services Board authorized CEO Kathy Harshbarger to negotiate and enter a five‑year locked‑price agreement with HealthStream for staff education, policy content and clinical skills modules, not to exceed $104,592.22 payable over five years. The motion includes an opt‑out clause and a stated purpose of meeting regulatory compliance and training requirements.
William Curley moved to authorize the CEO to engage with HealthStream under the specified terms; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The board discussed the tradeoffs between a three‑year and five‑year purchase and emphasized the need for an exit clause so future boards would not be obliged to continue the contract without review.
Board members said the HealthStream suite would provide standardized, regularly updated policies and video-based skills training that the organization could adopt as its primary policy resource. A member explained that HealthStream uses Lippincott‑style standards and allows the hospital to add locally produced videos. "If there was ever a question...we could pull that policy up and it would cover us specific for Western County Health Services," a speaker said about the platform.
Legal and procurement issues were discussed. Counsel and board members noted the Mariano doctrine (as referenced in the meeting) that allows a future board to void contracts that unnecessarily bind future boards; members asked administration to include an exit clause and to document compliance purposes so the contract would be justifiable as necessary to operations.
The board recorded the total five‑year order value in the meeting as $104,592.22 and specified it be payable over five years. The motion as read into the minutes stated: "The motion was made by William Curley to authorize Kathy Harshbarger to engage with HealthStream for a 5 year locked in price not to exceed $104005.95.22 payable over 5 years and to include an opt out clause," (minute wording corrected in later exchange in the meeting to $104,592.22).
Next steps: the CEO will finalize contract language including an opt‑out or exit provision and report back to the board; administration will confirm administrator licensing and how locally developed content can be integrated.