News 10/19/04

I recently took a little jab at reporters from "real" publications who read HIStalk for ideas, and lo and behold, got a mention in one rag last week. I was honored, other than it sounded a little bit grudging and they called me "rambling." That makes two reporters who've given me the courtesy of a brief mention - thank you. Let's get ready to ramble!

Political neophyte Jeanne (Mrs. Neal) Patterson's Congressional opponent zings her by asking during their televised debate: how do bills get through Congress? She said: "OK, well, you basically start off with legislation and policy development. That goes within your team, then you have to look for sponsors around that. Then you have to get enough sponsors and people that work with you throughout that process. Then it goes to a conference committee. Then it goes on from the House. If it goes from the House, it goes to another committee to the Senate to potentially become a bill." He said: "That's not the way you take a bill through Congress ... If you're going to do all these things for the people of the 5th Congressional District, you at least need to know you don't have to go get co-sponsors to introduce a bill. That's fundamental. I won't even go to the rest of it.” He also asked her what the minimum wage is in the US and India, but she never answered. Doh!

On the positive side for Cerner, their float took first place in the American Royal Parade in KC, beating archrival Mission Valley Pony Club.

Montefiore Medical Center's for-profit company gets a new web site, requiring a breathy press release. I think they need better marketeers, judging from this self-aware prose: "With more than 70 pages of information, the new site aims to provide visitors with a well-informed view of the Company, including its history, business highlights, customer success stories and media coverage ... The website introduces the company's new corporate brand, including fresh graphics and the new tagline 'Improving the quality of patient care through information technology' which is the aphorism of the Company's mission. The site includes a Career Center which highlights current employment opportunities." Somehow when I think of cutting edge technology, I'm not looking for advances like a web page with stock photos and job listings. Still, I respect anyone who sneaks in "aphorism."

The CFO responds to questions about why his Florida hospital charges more than everyone else in the area. First bad answer (paraphrased): our patients are sicker. Second bad answer, helpfully offered when the "sicker" argument didn't stick (paraphrased): don't worry about our charges since no one pays them anyway. That's probably not a great announcement, given the number of suits being filed over discounting practices.

A Scottish newspaper rips government IT projects in an editorial entitled "Digital Disease." "Conceived by senior civil servants with only limited high-tech know-how, carried out by a variety of contracted companies such as Accenture and Fujitsu and intended for a user group rarely consulted about what it actually needs, an intoxicating brew of miscommunication, ambiguity and misdirection meant that from the start, the NHS’ was inevitably going to end up over schedule, over budget or unsuited to the task at hand." In another article, 77% of UK docs believe the HIT modernization program will be at least as big a failure as previous government IT projects.

CTG Healthcare Solutions takes on several former hospital CIOs for its newly formed Executive Services group: Ward Keever, Charlie Jones, Barbara Penatzer, Al Sinisi, and some I don't know.
 
Microsoft settles another DOJ antitrust point, this time for distributing licenses in a format readable only by Internet Explorer. "Microsoft attorney Charles Rule told Kollar-Kotelly the protected document format, known as MHT, could be viewed through browsers other than IE, although he was not aware of any other browsers that supported MHT." Hmmm. Well, it doesn't matter to me anyway since I've ditched IE for Firefox. Now if they'd just do a Google toolbar for Firefox, I'd be happy.

Idiotic lawsuit of the week: it's not exactly hospital-related, but it spoke to me. In Dearborn, Michigan, a 16-year old boy with a lengthy police record is stopped by officers who notice a broken window in the car he is driving, later found to be stolen. The boy panics and swallows something, repeatedly denying to officers that it was cocaine (which it was.) He was belligerent and uncooperative, eventually convulsing and dying after being taken to the hospital. The parents are suing the city for $50 million for taking too long to get him there.

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