News 09/27/05

From HITPundit: "KLAS is about un-scientific as it gets - they ask vendors to submit their clients to 'surveys' to determine if the client is satisfied with the products or services - gee, now should I ask my happy or pissed off clients to take the survey - and with any luck, KLAS won't find any of my disgruntled clients in the market - but I could buy the report for $2500." Everyone takes cracks at KLAS, so where are the upstart competitors who'll do it right? Maybe that's my calling.
 
From Anonymous Reader: "I'm an IT guy.  I believe the Clinical folks are on the correct side of the argument 80% of the time, but I still have a favorite poster outside my cube: SELECT * FROM Users WHERE Clue > 0. 0 rows returned."

A couple of folks asked why I'd consider retiring HIStalk, which I hinted at earlier. Imagine if someone offered you this job: research and write for several hours each week, for readers you'll never know. Do this 3-4 times a week for a couple of years. They rarely participate with you (sponsoring, using the discussion board, sending in those damned screen shots I pleaded for) but they read regularly, presumably deriving some benefit with no cost or obligation. You might do great work every now and then, but like a great serial killer, you can't really brag about it, even when you overhear people talking about the wonderful thing they just read on HIStalk (well, I don't hear that very much ... do you?) You can't benefit with related ventures like consulting or selling books. You will meet (electronically) some great people and maybe make a tiny difference, even though you won't know when you do. Would you take that job?

On the other hand, I'm kind of hooked on writing HIStalk. If you're new (and I see a few of you who are,) plop your name in the Mailing List box over to your right if you want an instant e-mail update when I write something new. And, HIStalk is a lot more than this page you're reading ... there are 400 articles here that represent a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, so use the Search box to your right (or click the Archives links to the left to see everything from a given month.) I'm really sorry that so many people just read the front page and don't dig deeper to find the stuff I worked on so hard days or years ago. Maybe I should put together another "Best of HIStalk" PDF like I did a long time ago. Lots of folks seemed to enjoy it, which was good news because it was kind of a pain to do.

Like those NASCAR drivers who can mumble five grammatically challenged sentences and still squeeze in the name of their 45 car sponsors, here's a nod to HIStalk's supporters. Thanks to sponsors Medicity and Healthcare Growth Partners. I thank individually those kind readers who have clicked the Amazon Honor System to send a few dollars my way.  I appreciate those folks who allowed me to interview them. Thanks to anyone who has e-mailed -- I read every one, although I don't always have time to respond. Thanks to the blogs and web pages that link to HIStalk, even when I forget to reciprocate. Lastly, thanks to you for reading.

A group of Kansas City employers, led by Cerner, band together to create a community health record. Cerner will provide hardware and software free for three years and at cost afterward. I'll say one thing about those KC companies: they get it done when it comes to their community, probably due to having an inferiority complex over being located a long way from anyplace most people would find interesting. Maybe CERN's theme should be Things are Up to Date in Kansas City for you fellow Oklahoma fans.

It's always easy to find a healthcare executive proudly sporting a degree from a degree mill, so I'll stop at just one. This children's hospital administrator boasts of a PhD from the unaccredited Kennedy-Western University. Here's an account of a watchdog group's criticism of another hospital exec's Kennedy-Western credentials. OK, I can't stop at just one. Here's a hospital HR director who couldn't muster more than a bachelor's degree from Kennedy-Western, which is like settling for a Paris Hilton movie in which she's not naked. Here's a CNO working toward a nonaccredited K-W degree. Here's a UPMC nursing executive with one K-W degree and bagging another. This HR VP also matriculated from K-W. OK, that was a handful of the 34,000 search engine hits I got and I only looked at one unaccredited school, so rest assured there are questionable credentials plastered all over resumes everywhere.

HIStalk sponsor Medicity announces an expanded agreement with big customer LabCorp, for whom they will provide a browser-based ordering and resulting system. You can get good background from the interview I did with CEO Kipp Lassetter a few months ago.

I watched some idiot on a cell phone walking into people and gesturing wildly while yakking on a cell phone today. He paid no attention as he bore down the wrong side of the sidewalk in front of the hospital, displacing those following the rules (stay to the right,) and proceeding to jaywalk right into traffic. Why do people think that just because they're talking on the phone that they've got a protective aura? Of stupidity, maybe. I'd hate to see what he did once he reached his car.

LA's St. Vincent Medical Center suspends its liver transplant program and fires two of its surgeons after being caught accepting a bribe from from the Saudi Arabian embassy to bump a Saudi patient to the top of the waitlist. An outside agency noticed that the hospital had submitted falsified transplant records and blew the whistle.

CMMS's VistA-Office finally goes to beta. Cost: $37, but you have to buy your own CPT and Cache' licenses.

Idiotic response to a hospital lawsuit: the CEO of Mercy Hospital, Wilkes-Barre, PA admits that she and the risk manager gave phonied-up documents to the plaintiff's attorney in a medical malpractice case. Who would recommend such a clear-cut violation of law and ethics? The hospital's attorney, of course.

NHS will offer announced incentives for using its Choose and Book system, but it will be paper-based since automated systems won't be ready. "An email seen by E-Health Insider Primary Care reveals that the department this month considered changing its incentive scheme as it became clear none of the 303 PCTs in England would meet its targets but decided the loss of credibility in such a move would be unsustainable."

Hospital CIO Salary of the Week: Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY: $258,703. HIStalk CIO Enrichment Index: 51.

IDX recaps its executive summit. David Brailer spoke, although from the quotes it was the same old tired stump speech for EMRs and apple pie. Ditto Newt Gingrich. Maybe you had to have been there, which wasn't possible unless you have enough juice to command an invitation. The press release mentioned UK attendees ... you wonder if some of those were booked before IDX got replaced by Cerner? They talk about innovation, so I'll ask: am I the only one who hears IDX and thinks only "those outpatient guys who bought Phamis and have coasted on it since?" Also: the student center at nearby Champlain College is named for IDX (hopefully you know IDX well enough to understand that 'nearby' refers to Burlington, since that's the center of their universe and Seattle is their Pluto.)

Vendor one-liners:
McKesson earnings call
Eclipsys activation at Cottage
QuadraMed Affinity CPOE go-live at Altru
PCTS sells Amelior to Gilbert Hospital

News, rumors, whatever: e-mail me.