Announcing the 2005 HISsies Award Winners

Announcing the Winners of "The 2005 HISsies:
The Brutally Honest Healthcare Information System Awards"
Nominated and Voted On by the Readers of HIStalk

Discussion
Not everyone will be happy to walk away a winner of a 2005 HISsie Award. They aren't called brutally honest for nothing! Read the bland rags if you like not being able to tell the ads from the filler, but readers here speak freely (apparently!)

If you're displeased with the result, take comfort in the fact that nothing about this process was scientific or even necessarily unbiased. HIStalk readers nominated and voted as they pleased. Maybe they represent general industry feelings, maybe not. Don't take this survey entirely seriously, but on the other hand, don't discount it completely just because it wasn't conducted by earnest new graduates wearing shiny suits.

We jumped right in with a probing question. Which vendor's 2004 strategy was the smartest? Epic had a strong showing for simply staying privately held, but MEDITECH prevailed for doing exactly what Howard Messing said when I interviewed him not long ago ... they just kept executing the same boring, wildly successful strategy that has made them the quiet giant of the industry.

On the other hand, which vendor's strategy blew up in their face? No contest -- Cerner's hiring of Indian "associates" (their term) obviously rankled quite a few folks, despite the company's half-hearted rationalizations involving time zones and globalization. Personally I think the wording of the survey question was a bit leading, but it was what the reader nominated, and so it goes. Lots of vendors are using cheap offshore labor, but I think it was Cerner's righteous indignation that won it for them.

Who made the big industry sale of 2004? IDX's UK business got a lot of votes, but the winner was MEDITECH (you'll begin to see a theme here, but other vendors' employees and customers were just as welcome here as MEDITECH's, so no bellyaching about ballot box stuffing if your company's people didn't care enough to vote.) It wasn't splashed all over the headlines, but it was big.

Who do you trust most among vendors? Epic has its fans, but in the end it was MEDITECH 2:1 over the Madison hippies. Boston wins again!

It was an almost equal split in the category of "vendor you trust least." For three of the four nominees, that is. Cerner won this one in a yawner, with five times the votes of the second-place finisher.

The "Best Provider IT Organization" was hard, because few of us have personal experience with the nominees. A good number of folks skipped this question, and certainly you could argue that lots of good candidates weren't nominated. Still, we'll play the cards we were dealt and proudly name Brigham and Womens Hospital as the country's best healthcare IT organization. Congratulations!

Who's the best vendor to work for out there in HIS-land? Once again, it was Epic and MEDITECH vying for the win, with MEDITECH winning the big prize. Hey, even if it was MEDITECH employees doing a lot of the voting, that's pretty darned impressive.

That takes us to the second biggest blowout of the survey. Who's the worst employer in the healthcare IT industry? According to 80% of the respondents, it's Cerner. I'm beginning to feel bad for them. They aren't that bad now, c'mon.

Lots of folks weren't convinced they'd bet the farm on any healthcare IT company's stock. Point well taken. Among those who named names, though, IBM won handily.

Survey respondents believe that electronic medical records is the most promising technology development, which easily exceeded the fragmented voting for the other nominees.

On the other hand, cynical HIStalk readers believe that Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) was the most overrated technology of 2004, edging out hand-held devices. If your company offers CPOE on a PDA, start working one of those award-winning strategies for 2005, because you just might need it.

OK, the Most Valuable Information Source of 2005 was a blatant come-on, my injection of vanity into these otherwise distinguished proceedings. You agreeably voted the party ticket, giving HIStalk a blowout win (you just want it to keep coming regularly and free, don't you?) That amateur rag called The Wall Street Journal got some votes, so maybe I'll get myself a subscription since I'm pretty sure I've got the HIStalk info down pat.

You said the biggest industry story of 2004 was Congress's failure to give David Brailer a relatively insignificant amount of money to start delivering more than political lip service toward healthcare IT. The President's since taken up the charge, but all of that pre-election rhetoric means nothing without some seed money. By the way, the never-ending litany of HBOC and McKesson executives going to court and/or jail gave it a close call.

You folks at HIMSS are doing a great job, according to HIStalk readers. The HIMSS Annual Conference blew away all pretenders in the "best conference attended" category. No one else was even in the same ballpark.

CPOE isn't just the most overrated technology of 2004, it's also the most overused buzzword. Congratulations to all you vendors and consultants trying to whip this old nag into winning a race for you. The audience ain't buyin' it.

Congratulations to Stephanie Reel of Johns Hopkins for being voted as the most effective CIO in a healthcare organization. I think I printed her salary here a few weeks back, didn't I? Maybe she's worth it.

Now we get to the most important, the most longingly awaited two categories of the entire year. The final two. The big finale.

All the usual crap aside, who would you pick to have a few beers with? Judy Faulkner bagged some votes, but overall you voted just like I did ... you'd love to hang out with Neil Pappalardo of MEDITECH and see what he's all about. I'm sure some heavy MEDITECH employee voting involved helped him cross the finish line, but even so, isn't it cool if the grunts want to pound brews with the big guy on their own time? Good choice, and if he wants to hang with me as a representative of everyone who voted, I'd be happy to report back.

Last and probably least, the "pie in the face" category." I struggled with the wording of this very important category as I created the survey. Should it be "biggest windbag," "most annoying," or "least sincere?" Finally, a stroke of genius: let readers apply their own subjectivity by simply naming the person in whose face they'd most like to throw a pie, regardless of their thought process. Whatever pushed their buttons was fine with me, and with only two nominees, apparently the pushing was nearly universal. Dave Garets of HIMSS Analytics gave a surprisingly strong showing (good job, Dave) but we all knew he wouldn't be able to compete with Cerner's Neal Patterson and his 87% of the popular vote. Since the KC papers accuse me of being anti-Cerner, let me say that I admire the guy and his company as leaders of our industry, and also chime in that at least people care enough to want to see him take a lemon meringue right in the kisser. I'm sure everyone voted in the spirit of good, clean fun (didn't you?) Let me lay down a disclaimer here and how, however: if some zealot actually follows through with the pie thing, I had nothing to do with it.

That's it, the 2005 HISsie Awards are ovah. Thanks to all who voted, congratulations and/or condolences to the winners, and maybe we'll do it again next year. Congratulate the winners at HIMSS since I bet every one of them will be in Dallas!