HIStalk Quotes
Monday Morning Update 07/03/06
posted 07/01/2006
If you're thinking, "Sweet Jesus, he's cranked out another epic for me to wade through first thing on Monday," then blame your fellow readers, who assured me that they aren't quite sick of me yet. So, instead of taking Saturday off, here I am, hoping to enlighten and entertain. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
From EMR Nurse: "Is Epic a cult? Having gone to one of Epic's user group meetings a few years ago, I noticed that all the male employees at the general session were wearing the exact same suits, looked like they were cut from the same mold, and would recite company mantras upon Judy's command during her general session talk. Kind of felt cult-like. Has anyone else had the same experience or feeling?"
From Anonymous: "Has no one heard of Carl Dvorak? We implemented Epic and never once saw Judy. Carl has run Epic for for years. He is the COO." I've never met him, but I did ask the question about Judy's potential successor. Allow me to rephrase. Let's assume that Carl takes over someday. How would Epic change?
From Mellowmarsh: "An enterprising reporter from a newspaper in north New Jersey keeps on top of Emdeon/WebMD news, since they are headquartered there. At any rate, he/she reports today that Emdeon expects to conclude its evaluation in 'the second half of July' about selling its two largest divisions - business services and practice services. Who's interested in purchasing? That's the big question." Link.
From Anonymous: "Overheard at a recent Cerner conversion of orders, documentation and meds administration from a nurse from another hospital in the system that will convert later: 'this is so easy and works so well, I can't wait to get back and work on this so we can get rid of Meditech!' Just a little 'fair and balanced' reporting." Thanks for the report, although from a 'fair and balanced' perspective, her comparison will be more useful once she's actually used Cerner. If she's a Magic user, there's no question that Cerner looks better, but that's no guarantee she'll like it more.
From Anonymous: "Misys is terminating its association with eRad to concentrate on fixing the RIS. Also heard eRad brought nothing to the table except client dissatisfaction. Also of note, more Director level management is bailing out. The dead weight stays on pushing Six Sigma." Ever notice that it's always paper-pushing non-contributors who want to change processes? That's always been the case where I've worked -- newcomers with little to offer otherwise try to convince everyone to scrap everything so they won't be the only clueless ones. Paraphrasing from a book: "don't let an abstract artist convince you that he/she is scorning convention until they've proven that they mastered it first."
I need to thank you for reading HIStalk. June readership was up 12% over May even though I took some days off, with 100,000 total hits, doubled since December and quadrupled in a year.
Here's some exciting news: let me extend a grateful welcome to new HIStalk Platinum Sponsor EnovateIT. Their forte is point-of-care hardware, such as mobile carts, mounting arms, computer wall stations, and displays. If you've ever rolled out equipment like this, you know that it's not just a low-bidder commodity. Bad choices are guaranteed to alienate clinical staff, endanger clinical system implementations, and cost more money in the long run (I've seen that lesson learned several times - the hard way - by otherwise accomplished IT organizations who gave more thought to the chairs programmers sit in than heavily used caregiving tools like wireless PC carts.) See EnovateIT's snazzy new Platinum Sponsor ad to the left - it and the new T5 cart it depicts are just oozing with cool, like a sexy, sassy Apple in a world full of beige PC clones. Spending millions on a CIS and thoughtlessly rollout out crappy end-user hardware is like finishing off your Ruth's Chris steak with a Wendy's Frosty for dessert. Anyway, do me a favor and thank EnovateIT for sponsoring HIStalk and do yourself one by looking over their product line.
More about the new Humanscale Healthcare's T5 Point-of-Care Technology cart, designed by BMW/DesignWorksUSA: it's highly adjustable, prevents stress injuries, and offers protection against spills and spread of infection. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's kind of ... erotic. I find myself wanting to caress it just from the picture. But, I'm a nerd.
MedQuist announces their DocQment Ovation transcription system.
Few doubt that Don Berwick's Institute for Healthcare Improvement and its 100,000 Lives campaign are good things, but one might quibble with its celebration of having exceeded that goal. The Wall Street Journal found that, as always, it's hard to correlate cause and effect. Self-reported hospital death rates were compared, but obviously IHI wasn't the only factor in their reduction and self-reported numbers are always iffy. A VA researcher's comment: "I think there's been a tendency in the errors business to first overstate the size of the problem, and now, I'm afraid, to overstate the effect of interventions on the other side." Still, the next round of comparisons will look at participating vs. non-participating hospitals, which would be a better indicator.
"Something called the World Cup was on TV today. It involves that game that kids play here, where guys in shorts run around kicking a volleyball around a 50-acre field for several hours without scoring any points, the excitement of which apparently incites foreigners to kill each other while Americans wake up long enough to click over to something more action-packed on TV, like golf or bowling. It's kind of like hockey without the ice, fighting, Canadians, and TV ratings. That's your Mr. HIStalk Ugly American World Cup update."
HIMSS adds new staff: Liddy West, formerly of Misys, as VP of marketing and business development; Didi Davis, from Eclipsys, as director of IHE; Mary Griskewicz, from GE Healthcare, as diractor of ambulatory systems; JoAnn Klinedinst, from Doylestown Hospital, as director of healthcare information systems; and Pam Matthews, from American Healthcare Services, as director of business information systems.
UK patients may be allowed to opt out of their electronic medical records system. Some argue that the default should be opting out, where you'd have to ask to have electronic records, instead of the current default of opting in.
The VA's CIO is given authority to administer security policies, which he hasn't had previously.
With its purchase of Bayer's diagnostic equipment business, Siemens moves to #3 in the profitable healthcare diagnostics market, behind Roche and Abbott. Some argue that the company's rapid-fire business deals, led by a fairly new CEO, may outpace its ability to manage and to deliver improved profits. Others say Siemens paid too much for the Bayer unit just to beat rival Philips to it. At least they're being aggressive after a long spell of just plodding along, although their performance in the HIT world has been singularly uninspiring.
Not exactly news if you read here: Accenture's CEO tells stock analysts that may drop iSoft as its NPfIT subcontractor.
More non-news: constipation may lead to aggression.
Bravo: a software trainer is appalled that a new airport lounge for military members was unfurnished, so he gave $40,000 of his own money to fix it up. "I made some good investments and I thought that I could make a contribution to my fellow man." As poor as our international reputation has become, we still are the most openly generous people in the world, as evidenced by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Now if we could just free our dependence on immature and self-centered celebrities and athletes ...
Cook County's president steps down amidst concerns about his ability to run the county, triggered by what appears to be an unauthorized release of his medical records from Rush University Medical Center. In the usual Chicago fashion, John Stroger wants his son to take his place.
The new CEO of El Camino Hospital will get $700K, including incentives, to run the non-profit 395-bed hospital.
If you have thoughts on how I can make HIStalk better, please share them with me.
comments (7)
1. MedStud left...
07/01/2006 5:07 pm
I may be drunk on a Saturday afternoon, but as an unemployed pre-medical
undergraduate I must tell you: I cannot get enough of your insights. Soooo
FYI, the collegiate future "users" have their ears in the corn fields ...
waiting for enlightenment. Like an HL-7 feed, keep the firehose open.
2. Anony-mouse left...
07/02/2006 7:05 am
Re: Epic User Group Meetings
3. Anony-mouse left...
07/02/2006 7:32 am
Re: Epic with Dvorak - ASSUMING Judy takes a back seat. I think it would
be less cultish, it would still retain the rigorous hiring practices, and I
think it'd act a little more like a public company taking more risks and
probably pushing more new products more quickly (with fuller features)
while pushing heavily to expand the base of qualified consultants.
4. Ex-QuadraMess left...
07/03/2006 8:13 am
RE: "Is Epic a cult?" Funny observation. I think companies with strong
leaders DO share some of the same qualities as cults - namely, a
single-minded pursuit of a common Vision. You hear this same theme echoed
in every business book, in every company success story. It's the
difference betweeen a flashlight and a LASER. It sounds like Judy has been
successful getting her people all pointed in the same direction.
5. fmr Chicagoan left...
07/03/2006 1:04 pm
So, Rush Presbyterian is in hot water due to an anonymous release of John
Stroger's records? The real surprise for me is that Stroger is being
treated at Rush when the local county facility bears Stroger's name. What
does it say about a hospital if it's namesake doesn't go there when he is
ill?
6. Anony-mouse left...
07/03/2006 3:35 pm
Chicagoan - get a freakin' clue. Rush is second-to-none in quality of care
in this marketplace. They have all the experts and are a quaternary
facility, not a county hospital. This case requires the higher level
treatment alternatives for this very sick individual (complications from
stroke, other co-morbidities). They offer a true integrated delivery system
and actually reap some of the benefits of an employed physician model while
still dealing with the agony of the academic medical center and a highly
competitive Chicago market.
7. curious left...
07/03/2006 10:10 pm
Is Acc only considering EpicSys as an alternative to iSoft ? There are many
other players in the field as well...
