What should a platform migration and exit plan contain?

Define the migration objects separately

List the website, domain configuration, product content, intake configuration, account permissions, transaction reports, support history and integration settings. Then make separate rows for clinical records, payment relationships, subscriptions and open orders. Record which party controls each item and which agreement governs it. Identify vendor software or templates licensed for use that you cannot assume will transfer with the brand.

For every transferable item, request the format, field definitions, identifiers, timestamps and attachments. Ask whether the export is complete or limited to a date range. Request a permitted sample before you need to leave. Have the receiving team inspect it for usability, including whether an order can be connected to its payment and support history without ambiguous matching.

Keep clinical custody and business handover distinct

Ask the care entities and counsel to define record custody, authorized recipients, retention and patient access during transition. Do not assume the business owner can take every clinical file or instruct its deletion. HHS's business associate contract guidance addresses permitted uses and disclosures and the return or destruction of protected health information at termination where feasible. The applicable agreements and legal responsibilities need review for your arrangement.

Give the clinical custodian its own sign-off gate. Confirm who responds to patient record requests after the commercial relationship ends, how authorized clinicians access needed records and which information must remain protected in retained systems. The ownership and access register should point to these responsibilities without becoming a duplicate medical record store.

Source context: HHS: Business Associate Contracts

Plan payment continuity with the processors

A subscription row in a spreadsheet does not establish that its payment credentials or billing settings will work with a new processor. Ask both processors for their supported transfer process, account eligibility, timeline and customer actions. Stripe's migration documentation illustrates a coordinated process involving the previous processor, customer and payment data, identifier mapping and subscription remapping. Other processors' terms must be checked separately.

Keep a billing calendar for the transition. Name the system permitted to charge each subscription at each stage and define how you prevent duplicate billing. Reconcile payments, refunds, disputes and balances separately from clinical progress. If some customers must update payment details, plan an approved communication and a support route. Do not promise a seamless migration until the relevant parties have accepted the process.

Source context: Stripe: Data Migration Overview

Reconcile open work before cutover

Make an inventory of incomplete intake, clinical review queues, approved but unfulfilled orders, delayed shipments, support tickets, scheduled renewals and unresolved financial items. For each group, decide whether it finishes in the existing system or moves through an approved transfer. Name one authoritative queue during the change. Two teams working copies of the same queue can create duplicate actions and conflicting patient messages.

Agree on a cutover window, change freeze, final export, validation procedure and fallback decision. Use synthetic information for rehearsals where possible, and approved safeguards for any necessary live transfer. Test identifiers, notification routing and access removal as well as totals. Let the clinical and privacy owners define the conditions for moving care work; the engineering calendar alone should not determine clinical readiness.

Price and accept the handover before ending service

Ask for notice periods, renewal dates, export charges, transition assistance rates, read-only access terms and any obligations that survive termination. Identify charges that continue while old work finishes. Have counsel inspect the interaction between the service contract, business associate agreement and separate care or fulfillment agreements. The recurring and exit fees guide helps keep those costs visible in the purchase decision.

Create an acceptance checklist signed by the responsible owners: transferred business assets usable, permitted data validated, open work reconciled, billing authority clear and former access removed when appropriate. Keep a record of approved retention and destruction actions. An exit is complete when the business and care responsibilities have a functioning home, not simply when the old login stops working. Review the plan whenever the stack or contracting parties change.

Before you move forward

• Request permitted samples and export terms before signing.
• Map each item to its controller or custodian.
• Get processor and clinical acceptance separately.
• Rehearse cutover and define a fallback.
• Reconcile open work, billing and retained access.