IDC research suggests that the following are key attributes and selection criteria of a SaaS delivery model in any market:

• The solution is provided by an offsite, third-party provider.
• It is accessed via the Internet.
• The offering requires minimal IT skills for implementation.
• Provisioning is near real time, self-service, and dynamic.
• Pricing model is fine grained and frequently usage based.
• The user interface is browser/portal based.
• System interfaces comply with Web services APIs.
• Resources and common versions are shared across customers.

Unique to the healthcare market, experience with healthcare clients and healthcare payer applications is critical.  The selection process should also determine how well the SaaS solutions integrates with applications outside its SaaS model and to support multiple external data models and information feeds, particularly to support automated and near real time processing.  Healthcare payers looking at SaaS alternative for strategic services should understand access, time, expense and updates of customizations. And, finally, in these financially challenging times, return on investment or case study implementations should be requested.  Ideally, vendors will share risks for stated objectives (cost reduction, improved efficiency, value, etc).