It was a long day at HIMSS, but good. I got to the convention center very early and hung around outside some of the workshops (I’m sure I looked like a psycho lurker, but I wasn’t registered for anything, so I had to peek in). Those I saw had great attendance. The combined session of physicians, nurses, and pharmacists was huge, the venture fair was loaded with people, and I heard the project management workshop was good.

Say what you want about HIMSS, nobody runs a conference any better than those folks, at least that I’ve seen. I can’t imagine the logistics involved, but I can appreciate the result: I felt comfortable, welcome, and relaxed. Signage was excellent, the buses ran well (although it took forever to get to the hotel after the opening reception), and registration and tote bag pickup was lightning-fast.

Orlando’s far from being my favorite convention town, but the Orange County Convention Center is definitely my favorite. Lots of room, extremely well maintained, and helpful folks on hand. If it just had San Diego’s view …

The only negative is that it was darned humid in the convention center until mid-morning, so I’m thinking the AC is programmed to kick on later on Sundays. On the other hand, HIMSS had snacks and drinks out everywhere, even the fancy stuff like chocolate shavings and rock candy sticks for the coffee (I don’t drink coffee, so if I did, I’d want all that after-market stuff dumped in). It wasn’t many years ago that the folks in the Sunday workshops would starve because not only didn’t HIMSS provide food, there wasn’t any to be had because all the kiosks were closed. The situation is much improved. I still feel like a king when I can get a free soda on HIMSS Sunday.

Why healthcare costs keep increasing: a crummy convention center double cheeseburger and fries, which looked like it would taste the same as the paper boat it reposed it, was $10.75. Coffee was $3.52. Ball game food is better and cheaper.

I strolled by the venture capital fair to see what was going on. From the hall, all I could see was two groups: intense, fully suited young guys (at 7:30 a.m.) and casual older fellows who seemed to be having a blast. Guess which group was the guys with money? Hint: when you’re loaded, you can dress however you damn well please. I admire that.

The buses were wrapped in huge ads, of course (pic above). Microsoft had the most with Amalga, but the IntraNexus Sapphire ones were far cooler. While I was looking at the buses, I noticed some of the company reps loading in the usual cases of stuff. The ladies wore clothing ranging from casual to double-take revealing, so there’s a plus (well, in a few cases, anyway).

They were already handing out Monday’s Healthcare IT News, making me feel temporarily psychic again (no stock market or sports page, unfortunately, or I could have retired early). It had the usual lame, pun-filled headlines. I overheard one publications reporter, who looked about 20, explaining her background: “I don’t know anything about healthcare, but I did take biology in college.” Great.

I saw a fair number of people I know and another few that I know only through HIStalk. The only sponsor I saw was a guy in a Novo Innovations shirt.

I swung by the CIO meeting area and they’ve pretty much got the luxury track over there. They got their own tote bags, better lunch, and more goodies (not to mention their own lounge). That room looked packed, too. They get a free iPod if they sit through three focus group sessions. Rank has privileges.

Galvanon had their kiosks set out with maps and session guides. Great marketing idea. I fiddled around with one and they were pretty cool.

I’m still trying to figure out the tote bags. They were designed to be used as a day pack kind if deal, which I refuse to use since it just looks weird on anyone over 25, so I tried to carry it like the usual tote bag. It’s got one handle that’s on one side, which means it always feel like it’s off balance. You also can’t carry it open since the non-handle side just gaps open. I’m not a fan.

I saw a guy with a vendor CEO badge (I won’t mention which company, but it’s one whose commentary here isn’t consistently positive) peering intently at his laptop on a wireless connection. I sidled around behind him to see what was drawing his rapt attention and it was HIStalk.

I’m on a terrible Internet connection, which is driving me nuts. I should have stayed at the convention center to get this written since they had good Wi-Fi from what people were saying. They also have recharge stations for all of one’s gadgets.

Lots of people at my hotel and at the convention center were riding around on Segways, which were apparently a dismal flop everywhere but Orlando. The strangest was a guy cruising around outside by the buses and smoking like a chimney. It always strikes me as both funny and sad to see someone pedaling a bike and smoking, so this was similar.

Outside the speaker ready room: I saw two folks with a Cochise-like string of ribbonry, none of the the unauthorized HIStalk kind. I could decide if they were trying to be funny or really were that full of themselves.

The opening reception was pretty good. I took a little video, which I’ll post if I ever get on a non-hamster powered connection. I really like it when the reception is held outside, like in San Diego, and this one was in a dark ballroom, which felt like somebody’s very large basement rumpus room. The band was OK and celebrity imposters were on hand. RelayHealth’s Fake Inga (pic above) wasn’t getting a lot of attention that I noticed, but I couldn’t keep track of her. The memorable moment was when Real Inga and I approached her, got an “I Might Be Inga” ribbon, and asked her what the Inga thing was all about. Real Inga was tickled because Fake Inga gave some kind of evasive answer, like “It might be a person and it might be electronic, but you’ll have to visit the RelayHealth booth to find out.” She was pretty cute, but Real Inga’s got her beat.

Update: video is here. Not the best quality, but I was on the sly.

And yes, it seemed strange to hear the occasional HIStalk mention. That hasn’t really happened before. Real Inga and I were babbling like children at how strange it is to see Fake Inga and other evidence that we’re not just a figment of each other’s imagination, sitting in front of a keyboard for way too long each day.

Rumor heard: Allscripts will announce its acquisition of the remaining part of the healthcare business of Misys. Unverified and certainly questionable, but the sources were fair to good and there were more than one. Kind of makes sense.

Just one completely unnecessary reminder for those who RSVPed: Monday, 6 to 8 at the Peabody (it’s that giant, sun-blocking building that looms large from every window in the convention center lobby). No hints on the 7:30 guest speaker, but I believe an entourage is involved.

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From Dumbfounded: “Re: Bond Technologies. Heard that Bond was being sold to MediNotes, with an announcement forthcoming.” Unverified.

From The PACS Designer: “Re: Digitally Connected Patient. TPD mentioned a new concept called Digitally Connected Patient or DCP in the HIStalk interview of last year. Now, Philips Research has released information on this subject. Here’s what they have to say ‘Philips Research’s main involvement in the MyHeart project so far has been the development of wearable electronics and body sensors that can unobtrusively detect and measure vital body signs such as heart rate and breathing rate, communicate and analyze the acquired data and provide feedback to users or health providers.’ It will be interesting to hear from actual users on the pluses and minuses of such a concept.” Link.

From Henry Paterno: “Re: MD On-Line. I ran across their site. Any info?” I’ve not heard of them. Anyone?

From Rogue: “Re: offshoring. Can anyone confirm or deny that FCG or other consulting firms offshore clinical system build work? Anyone have experience with such an approach? If your native language is not English, do the nuances of ECG vs EEG vs EMG translate OK?”

From MSC Fan: “Re: OpenVista. I am biased on this topic, BUT your one-line report on Century City Doctors Hospital’s Medsphere go-live doesn’t really do justice to the accomplishment.” Well, at least now you’ve had twice as much of an attaboy with this second line. Hopefully they did it for their own benefit, not to get mentioned in HIStalk.

From Lenny Dykstra: “Re: downtime in Utah. University Hospital’s EMR goes through a nine-hour downtime. They’re a Cerner outfit.” Link.

I’m in Orlando, where it wasn’t too hot (mid-70s) but pouring rain and then very humid. Looks like HIMSS will be in the original west complex of the Orange County Convention Center, not the new expansion on the Peabody side. The signs are already out in the airport and around the convention center. Obvious sales guys are rolling in. Tourists and traffic are everywhere, of course, with lots of kids bouncing off any available walls. The airport security line leaving MCO looked about a mile long, so I’ve got that to look forward to later in the week. If you’re headed down, travel safely.

A correction from Visicu: the Philips acquisition closed and the stock now void, but it remains a corporation with a new shareholder and board under Philips. The people, office, and name haven’t changed.

Scott Shreeve isn’t impressed with PracticeFusion’s announcement of having 100 physician users of its free EMR.

An SVP from Raymond James & Associates asked if I could link to a two-minute survey they’re doing on HIT vendors. I took it and it’s quick and painless.

DSS announces its VistA system called vxVistA.

Speaking of VistA, the VA says it desperately needs updating, getting it off MUMPS and onto the Web.

Tamper resistant prescription pads must be used for Medicare beneficiaries by April 1 after a six-month delay.

Healthvision says it signed 60 projects in Q4, some involving new customers.

Merge Healthcare’s Q4 numbers: revenue flat, EPS -$4.17 vs. -$0.33. The company will continue frantically dropping ballast to try to keep the balloon of the ground, saying it may sell off its non-US businesses.

E-mail me.

Sponsor Updates and Housekeeping

Care Management is the name of the newly launched clinician communication solution from Premise. Care Management is designed to improve patient flow by collecting and displaying data from various clinical systems and includes proactive alert and communication tools.

Design Clinicals announces MedsTracker 2.0, which includes enhancements to the medication reconciliation process.

Novo Innovations will announce Monday enhancements to make physician lab ordering easier.

Inga’s Update

I got a preview of Active Data Services (booth 3787) I’m Not INGA! Buttons and it has led me to wonder: if someone creates a 1500 buttons with your name on it, does it make you an icon? It’s all pretty heady.

GE Healthcare announces an $8.3 million agreement with Inova Health System in Virginia to provide 300 community physicians with Centricity EMR over the next four years.

Oakwood Healthcare in Michigan and Perot Systems announce that their implementation of NextGen’s EMR and EPM is delivering positive results and has increased revenue cycle and operational performance as well as cash collections. Perot is implementing NextGen’s products at Oakwood’s 38 physician practices.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary selects McKesson’s Paragon community HIS and plan to implement the clinical, financial, and ancillary applications

E-mail Inga.

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From CHOP Person: "Re: CTO. The positioned was already filled with someone who was brought on board several months ago and spent her time lying low while a reorganization of the training/learning organization occurred. End result: Talent and Learning Services headed by CTO. Means IS (EPic) training moved to HR, among other things."

From Chiquita Bonanno: "Re: MaxIT. Heard it was sold. Any truth to the rumor?" I haven’t heard anything.

From Darius Price: "Re: Lakeland Regional Medical Center in Florida. Heard they’re about to sign with Epic."

From H.I.S. Stalker: "Re: eClinicalWorks. Has anyone noticed that eClinicalWorks just got selected by Wal-Mart for their clinics?" Yes … everybody who read HIStalk last Thursday. I must write too much stuff because people are e-mailing me hot stories all the time that I’ve already mentioned. That’s OK — it makes me feel like a futurist.

From Silent Bob: "Re: Neil Pappalardo. Little known fact: he played lacrosse at MIT (defense). He also refused to cram for exams as he felt that last minute study gave an inaccurate reflection of his understanding of the subject." See? He’s the Bill Gates of our industry and needs to go on record (in more ways than one: I did a quick calculation of the value of his Meditech stock and it’s $502 million). He sits in a cube like the other ‘Techies and when I interviewed Howard Messing, he was writing a spell checker. 

From bmoregirl: "Re: Orion Health. Rumor is that Philips will acquire Orion Health in its quest to be the solutions provider birth to grave. Good move on their part if they do!" Unconfirmed, but feel free to chime in if you’ve got the goods.

From Steelers58: "Re: QuadraMed layoffs and offshoring. Funny how folks like Newman look at real-world events as catastrophic. QuadraMed will now be able to compete a little closer to the big guys by getting product to market quicker." Someone sent me an intercepted e-mail document, apparently QuadraMed’s talking points about the layoffs. Summary: outsourcing makes sense because higher demand means delivery has to be faster and cheaper, the offshoring decision has nothing to do with QCPR, and unnamed loudmouth bloggers (say, are my ears burning?) are wrong in stating that QCPR expertise is running low when QuadraMed still has over 40 product people, that Christine Stanfield was one of 12 analysts on the team, and over 30 engineers (15 old-timers) are working on QCPR. Actually I didn’t say that, a reader did, just to nitpick.

Short-term pain aside, there’s nothing wrong with offshoring, although a company has to quickly change its core competency from coding and QA to design and project management of code-to-spec techies who don’t know healthcare and, in some cases, English. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and the obvious problem is that when it doesn’t, it’s hard to put a team back together stateside without losing years of momentum. I don’t have a strong opinion either way, especially since I bet no major HIT company (Epic, maybe?) hasn’t moved jobs offshore. You get more for your money, but not always better.

Open source business intelligence software vendor Pentaho of Orlando raises $12 million in Series C funding. You have to appreciate the one-paragraph bio of the founder that concludes, "… you can usually find him near an empty Captain Morgan bottle or wandering around in the woods with his GPS receiver." Or both. Pretty hot company, apparently.

Microsoft says it has opened its HealthVault platform to developers: open wrapper libraries, eventual release of the .NET SDK, and publishing of HealthVault’s XML interface protocol specs to allow developers to private label the service (as I understand it, anyway).

Google announces a pilot program with Cleveland Clinic that will allow invited patients to share their Epic MyChart personal health records with Google PHR. The announce suggests that information from other providers will be importable and viewable under the patient’s control. Google also starts a Healthcare Industry Knowledge Center that helps advertisers target healthcare consumers. Coincidence?

So, the two potentially big PHR players fire salvos, each entirely characteristic: Microsoft flashes geek-arousing but proprietary (.NET) techie toys and white papers while Google jumps right to go-live and monetization while hiding the gadgetry under the covers. I’d call it Google 3, Microsoft 1 early in the game. In fact, I’m taking away MSFT’s one point because you can’t sign up for HealthVault without having a Windows Live ID, another example of proprietary .NET crap that has raised more than a few privacy concerns (just the ticket for launching a PHR). 

Another score update: Peter Pronovost and patients 1; well-intentioned fools from HHS Office of Human Protections 0. HHS must have slapped some sense into OHRP because it has decided that since infection checklists are already being used, it’s no longer research (duh). "We do not want to stand in the way of quality improvement activities that pose minimal risks to subjects," its acting director says, backpedaling from its previous interest in doing exactly that until the uproar of reason became deafening. My interview here. Strangely, Peter says he got no feedback whatsoever from the HIStalk interview (people usually get overwhelmed afterward). I thought quality and IT were hand in hand, but maybe I misjudged.

I forgot to mention a vendor dishing up HIStalk swag at HIMSS: Active Data Services will be handing out "I’m Not Inga" buttons from Booth # 3787. Their plan is to have every person at the conference put one on except the ever-honest Inga, who will thus reveal her true identify. I’m glad I’m not the one dragging 26,000 buttons to the hall if so. I’ve never seen any mention of HIStalk at HIMSS other than those ill-fated buttons of two years ago, so it will seem strange to see all the HIStalk and Inga stuff. You have to remember that I’ve only ever even uttered the word HIStalk to maybe 4-5 people in my life outside of the interviews and I’ve have never seen it anywhere except on my computer screen. I’m not real sure what my reaction is going to be, to be honest. Creeped out, I’m guessing. Imagine Inga: she has no idea how anonymously famous she’ll be since this is all new to her.

And for you home-bound non-HIMSS attendees, the HISsies winners will be announced in a very different way, so check back here Monday night. I’ll be writing here every day, of course, with the kind of high-brow analysis that you can’t get elsewhere: who’s booth sucked, which booth babes were hot, how good or bad the opening session was, and whether anyone particularly impressed or annoyed me. That’s if the server can handle the load of readers, that is, since the big boy went to his knees in the crush of HIMSS traffic last year, requiring me to beef it up.

Money guy Julian Allen is named to QuadraMed’s board.

Medsphere brings OpenVista live at Century City Doctors Hospital (CA).

Premise Corporation’s bed management systems earn the endorsement of AHA.

Pick up a wristband and brochure on "A World Free of Medication Errors" at HIMSS and First DataBank will donate $5.00 to two non-profit medication error groups. I hadn’t heard of either group, but I see that Peter Pronovost is affiliated with the Josie King Foundation, started with some of the lawsuit proceeds after an 18-month-old died at Johns Hopkins from a medication error. FDB is in booth 3747, according to the HIMSS exhibitor list.

Charleston Area Medical Center (WV) says it won’t lay off employees or cut back on pay raises despite a $25 million verdict against it, won in a lawsuit by a local surgeon who said the hospital smeared his reputation and revoked his privileges over malpractice insurance. Or lack of it, actually, since he put up $1 million of his own money as a self-insurance fund instead of buying commercial insurance, which CAMC didn’t like. Guess he won’t need to work at all now.

Visicu and its EICU stock ticker are history. The company’s $427 million acquisition by Philips is a done deal.

Emageon’s Q4: revenue down 14.7%, EPS -$0.02 vs. $0.10.

E-mail me. I’m probably too busy to respond, I’m sorry to say, since I’m working absurd hours. But, I always read.

Sponsor Updates and Housekeeping

New interviews on HIStech Report: John Holton of SCI Solutions on access management, Perry Russoniello of McKesson on workforce management, and Jim Klein of QuadraMed on the company’s product line, including QCPR.

Jobs: Cerner Consultant, Microsoft SQL Report Writer, Application Developer.

eScription announces that three of the top four outsourced transcription companies in the KLAS year-end report are members of the eScription MTSO Alliance. eScription, of course, is #1 in its own KLAS category of Transcription and Back-End Speech Recognition.

Sonitor announces a single patient use wristband tag for its ultrasound locating system.

Inga’s Update

A UK hospital has abandoned use of its Cerner Millennium software in its ED, claiming it posed a clinical risk because it couldn’t do simple things like print labels for blood samples quickly.

Now here is something creative and fun to check out at HIMSS. BÖWE BELL + HOWELL will attempt to scan a half-mile long paper document equivalent in length to 2,880 standard, 8.5 x 11-inch sheets laid end to end. If they succeed, they will establish the Guinness World Record for scanning the longest document. So if you want to hang out for a couple hours watching a really long scan process, stop by Booth 4476 Monday afternoon.

Misys announces some recent sales, including an upgrade and EMR sale to 19-provider Lumberton Children’s Clinic, Misys Homecare 4.0 to Angel Home Health and Hospice, Tiger and EMR to nine-provider McAllen Surgeons, and Tiger and EMR to five doctor Central Wyoming Neurosurgery. 

Coincidentally, I just got the following note from Poo Flinging Monkeys: “Not so much a rumor … not sure if they intend to tell the clients, but Misys is moving Level 1 support, which includes simple client requests and scriptable support solutions, to India. No layoffs yet, but moving it all offshore can’t be far behind. Most feel that ole Vern is simply cleaning it up to be sold and will jump ship.”

From Nobody Important: “In regards to Merge Healthcare – refer back to HISTalk on 11/27/06. Some predictions were made." Good call – here is Mr. H’s old posting that Nobody Important is referring to: “I got a few e-mails concerning Ken Rardin, now CEO of Merge Healthcare. His past-company track record: offshoring, job cuts, merciless bottom line boosting, selling off assets in parcels. The first two have proven accurate at Merge. We’ll see on the second two.”

The title of this study makes it clear where the authors’ opinion on PRHs and privacy risks: Personal Health Records: Why Many PRHs Threaten Privacy. Published by The World Privacy Forum, they note a number of possible privacy concerns, including the probability that PHR records could be subpoenaed more easily than a traditional HIPAA-protected record and the risk that identified health information is released to commercial data brokers.

McKesson announces a new strategic relationship with Proventys, a provider of personalized medicine knowledge services. McKesson plans to incorporate Proventys’ predictive modeling features into their clinical decision support solutions.

Deloitte Center for Health Solutions publishes a study that finds American consumers want more from their health care system than they’re getting, including greater online connection to health care providers and medical records, customized insurance coverage, and wider access to emerging innovations, such as retail clinics. Sixty percent said they wanted online access to medical records, test results, and appointment scheduling; 25% would pay more for that service. I also was interested to see that 75% of the consumers want expanded use of in-home monitoring devices and online tools to reduce visits and allow individuals to be more active in their care.

A recent Siemens Healthcare IT Exchange newsletter includes current statistics for Soarian Implementations. They claim to have over 80 Soarian customers live with over 160 active implementations underway. They also provide a breakdown of the number of clients using various modules.

The Los Angeles city attorney files suit against Health Net Inc., charging “a wide range of unlawful, unfair and fraudulent acts and practices,” including secret schemes to drop patients needing expensive treatment.

Lots of loose ends to take care of before heading to Orlando, including making sure I have a big enough suitcase to bring home all those vendor trinkets! Well, and all the extra shoes. I have a feeling this won’t be a carry-on type trip for me. I’m looking forward to prowling around all the booths and striking up conversations with strangers. And if you have RSVP’d for the HIStalk party and are considering bagging it for a better offer, trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it! I will be the one laughing and drinking and thanking my lucky stars for having such a great job!

E-mail Inga.

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Inside Healthcare Computing has graciously agreed to make previous Mr. HIStalk editorials available from its newsletter as a weekly “Best Of” series for HIStalk. This editorial originally appeared in the newsletter in February 2007. Inside Healthcare Computing subscribers receive a new editorial every week in their Electronic Update.

Punxsutawney Phil aside, you know spring is at hand when it’s time for HIMSS (already?) For those of us who go, it seems like the entire healthcare IT industry is there, most of them angrily checking their watches in the Starbuck’s line or barking self-important cell phone commands to their holding-down-the-fort underlings back home.

If you’re not going, don’t feel bad. It’s a great time to get work done without being interrupted, much like the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s. Or, if your boss will be there and you’re so inclined, to screw off with little fear of detection.

Everyone heads for HIMSS with a firm agenda, pledging this year to get serious work done instead of wasting time like at the previous ten conferences. Demos will be dutifully studied, job-related networking will be pursued, and vendor relationships will be cultivated for the benefit of the employer picking up the tab. You’re here to work. Or, so the rationalizing goes.

All those worthy goals evaporate once the first heady breath of conference air is inhaled deeply, that energizing tang of carpet cleaner, coffee, collateral, and cologne that puts you in conference mode. Like a recovering alcoholic vowing to take just one sip of beer, you’re off the wagon. Before you know it, your agenda looks more like this:

• Plan shopping, golf, or spa time from the tourist literature left in your hotel room.
• Find someone before or during the opening reception who might give you a drink ticket they don’t need.
• Walk the halls trolling for people you know, encouraging a hearty greeting and keen interest about what you’ve been up to, then silently cursing the arrogant jerks when they pass by with a vacant stare.
• Look soulfully into the eyes of vendor booth people and speak profoundly and positively about whatever they’re selling, hoping they’ll dig deep under the counter to furtively slip you an invitation to a really cool party that’s not open to the masses.
• Expect profuse chumminess from booth people who pretend to remember you and harbor no ill will from that time you cut their product from the shortlist.
• Decide just how much honesty everyone else applies when completing their CE forms, figuring that walking outside an auditorium door and catching a couple of words should be worth the full CE credit.
• Blame the speaker’s boring delivery when you decide to bag their talk 15 minutes in, climbing fearlessly over the entire row of knees, in front of the projector, and against the tide of incomers and door-standers, figuring no one knows you anyway.
• Check the agenda and decide to sleep in, leave the afternoon sessions early, and maybe sit out in the sun at lunch.
• Thrust your chest out proudly, knowing that booth people will pretend to be impressed with your title, your employer, and your town, even though they are silently sniggering at all three and looking over your shoulder for a better prospect or an incognito competitor who might hire them.
• Cruise the perimeter of the larger booths, trying to catch the eye of someone who looks like a doctor, executive, or hot rep, steering a wide berth around low-ranking losers who earned a HIMSS trip for some geeky company accomplishment like programming.
• Gather lots of vendor material for take-home study, then chuck it all in your room’s trash can before you leave for the airport.
• Having already planned to skip the Thursday sessions since everyone else does, call the airline on Wednesday afternoon to see if you can get out earlier.
• Wear your Mardi Gras beads home, bring your kids crappy booth junk, and impress the spouse with fake doubloons and a box of Café Du Monde beignet mix purchased at the airport.

Have a safe trip to New Orleans.

This editorial is copyright-protected by Algonquin Professional Publishing, LLC., publishers of Inside Healthcare Computing. Please do not copy, forward, or reproduce this material without prior permission. To obtain permission or for more information about Inside Healthcare Computing’s reprint policy, please contact the Customer Service Department at 877-690-1871 or go to http://insidehealth.com/ihcwebsite/reprints.html.

Mr. HIStalk’s editorials appear each Thursday morning in the subscribers-only version of Inside Healthcare Computing’s E-News Update. To subscribe, please go to: https://insidehealth.com/ihcwebsite/subscribe.html or call 877-690-1871.

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From Felonious Monk: "Re: Ralph Korpman. He’s developing a PHR under the company name CentriHealth in Nashville. He left HDS/Medaphis/Per-Se to found HealthTrio, but fell out with his partner. His new company is keeping a low profile, delivering the PHR as a subcontractor for Anthem, Ketting (OH), and Florida Medicaid." He’s certainly a pioneer. Personally, I’d like to see him design another clinical system, but he didn’t have a lot of success with the first one, I guess.

From Billie Newman: "Re: CPR. QuadraMed is showing poor judgment laying off folks such as Christine Stanfield. The CPR product is powerful, but complex. Sending development offshore will not work, as the system is too complex and will require folks with in-depth knowledge to maintain/support/advance." 

From Duane Feckless: "Re: sales team. Who do you use to sell your sponsorships? Maybe we could help you out for a percentage." No need. Companies e-mail us – we don’t solicit sponsors, make calls, or follow up after sending a PDF info sheet. Vendors know who we are, so they’re either in or they’re not and our job doesn’t change either way. Inga and I are very happy with the sponsors we have and we’re not hustling for more.

From Animal Price: "Re: Sage. The West Coast VP of sales, a 13-year vet, leaves the company. The remaining four VPs of sales have less than seven years total EMR/PM sales experience and the senior VP is a marketing professional."

From Jay’s Friend: "Re: Jay Parkinson MD. I’ll try to bring my friend Jay to the HIStalk party. How will I know which lovely lass to introduce him to?" I’m sure none of the lovely lasses would object to being introduced, so just start a receiving line and we’ll make an announcement.

From Samantha Sang: "Re: Pronovost interview. This was incredible! If there was a literary award for excellent journalist reporting in a blog, I would nominate this piece." Well, Peter did all the work, but I’ll accept on his behalf. I’ll finally be ready for more interviews after HIMSS, so I’ll be on the hunt. My #1 choice: Neil Pappalardo of Meditech, just because he fascinates me and never does interviews. The industry deserves the chance to know him better.

Palomar Pomerado Health (CA) will unveil its Second Life-based online hospital next Monday at the HIMSS booth of its partner, Cisco, which underwrote half the cost.

Listening: Flyleaf, hard-rocking, chick-led, semi-Christian.

The HIStalk reception at HIMSS is sold out, so we’ve shut down the RSVP page. I was expecting a few dozen signups and secretly hoping for 100, so 400 is pretty darned special indeed. Thanks to Healthia Consulting for footing the bill and making the arrangements. Coming: 46 presidents/CEOs, 64 VPs, 8 CIOs, 3 CMIOs, 4 COOs, 6 CTOs, and lots of other cool folks. A couple of weeks from now, I’ll be scratching my head that Healthia offered to put it together and that so many people, a few of whom I’ve swapped e-mails with, were able to come together. We’ll have a very special Miss HIStalk and Inga, the HISsies announcements, and a big-name speaker at around 7:30. With all those high-powered attendees, I bet some deals will go down. I’ve got a couple of folks who say they’ll snap some pictures, but if you want to bring your camera and help out, that would be cool.

A couple of weeks ago, I offered to make Miss HIStalk available to hold court in vendor booths at HIMSS. I got no takers until now: Miss HIStalk will be in RelayHealth’s booth (#2663) on Tuesday, so if you find yourself missing her attractive company after Monday night (and you will), drop by and get yet another variation on the badge ribbon theme, this one specific to RelayHealth (hey, don’t say I didn’t offer to help you other vendors stand out in the crowd). In fact, RelayHealth was so moved by my clearly ingenious marketing strategies (bring cute girls) that they’ll have a "Miss HIStalk wannabe", as they told me, handing out still more badge ribbons with HIStalk-related phrases at the HIMSS opening reception Sunday evening (they’re sponsoring it). I tried to get a Mr. HIStalk for you ladies, but couldn’t find a source. Now the pressure’s on to come up with something fun for next year in Chicago (HIStalkapalooza?)

Speaking of HIMSS, I know that at least three M&A deals will be announced during the conference. One or two may actually come out this weekend. You may recall that I scooped the McKesson acquisition of Practice Partner before their HIMSS announcement last year (so if you know anything, spill it). In fact, I made another accurate prediction that same day in response to a comment Misys had made about their physician focus over their hospital lines: "Well, they have to dump those businesses now, right? Why else announce to the world (and your existing lab and CPR customers) that those product lines are also-rans? Must be great to be a Misys sales guy trying to beat the odds and move some of those systems, only to have the boss tell your prospects that they really aren’t important."

My editorial in this week’s Inside Healthcare Computing: "Sun Was Right: The Promise of Healthcare Applications Requires a Grid, Not a Data Center Full of Servers." Scott Shreeve gave me the idea.

I was reading somebody’s HIT predictions for 2008 when it occurred to me: HIStalk has more smart readers than anyone I know, so maybe we could harness that brainpower to make better ones. I know the investment guys hang on every word, so it ought to be done right. I’m a provider-sider and don’t have a clue how to do this effectively, so if you’ve got experience, let me know.

Strange: a moonlighting pathologist in Canada develops what he says is innovative software to review Pap tests with better accuracy than tired pathologists. The newspaper discovered his invention while researching his frequent absences and reportedly shoddy work, which has forced Canadian authorities to review 15,000 cancer cases that he may have misdiagnosed while tending to his software project.

CSC, fresh off its acquisition of Covansys and FCG, will double its workforce in India to 32,000.

A Pittsburgh TV station ("Team 4" – precious) gets lathered up over HIPAA after investigating 378 Western PA claims and 80 violations that resulted in zero fines or prosecution. In fact, Team 4′s intrepid sleuths noticed that the list of complaints it got from HHS  included names, leading them to conclude that "the people in charge of enforcing the medical privacy law failed to follow their own rules." HHS politely reminded them that it isn’t covered by HIPAA.

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy is investigating e-prescribing errors.

E-mail me.

Sponsor Updates and Housekeeping

Sonitor Technologies announces the launch of its PC-Detector RTLS technology to be featured at HIMSS Booth #3815.

The Picis folks sent us a note about some of their prestigious clients who are presenting case studies at HIMSS: St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, Abington Memorial, MD Anderson, William Osler Health, Stormont-Vail Healthcare, and Group Health Cooperative will present at Picis’ booth, #2849.

Stratus Technologies announces a new “medical grade” class of servers proven to be capable of delivering uninterrupted 24/7 access to digital data and information and can support virtualization.

Greenway Medical Technologies is selected by 27-provider group and FQHC PrimaryPlus of Kentucky and Ohio. Though their press release didn’t specifically say this, the suggestion is this may be Greenway’s first FQHC sale and they are trying to pursue more.

AmSurg, who own a majority interest in 170 ambulatory surgery centers across the country, is implementing (warning: PDF) NextGen EMR/EPM. The AmSurg centers focus primarily on gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and orthopedic specialty procedures.

Inga’s Update

A medical device maker in Minneapolis sues a competitor, claiming its business was damaged after the company raided its sales force. Apparently 11 reps moved from one company to the other between May and January of this year.

athenahealth’s latest client is Therapeutic Associates in Portland, OR. The physical therapy and rehab organization, which has over 150 providers and 65 locations in the Pacific Northwest, will use athenahealth’s on-demand practice management and billing services.

Correction to an item last week on PatientKeeper. HCA will be implementing PatientKeeper’s physician portal and not patient portal.

REACT Systems announces a strategic partnership with Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the Seton Family of Hospitals. REACT provides critical response notification systems.

Would you (or your elderly relative) pay $5 a month to get real time updates on their doctors? Healthgrades is offering (warning: PDF) a new “Watchdog” e-mail alert service that will let patients know if there are any changes in disciplinary actions, malpractice judgments, and updated patient ratings. Maybe I just don’t go to the doctor enough or just don’t care enough about the statistics to pay even $5 a month for that type information.

I’m a fan of green initiatives, so I was pleased to read a Philips announcement of a 33% increase in sales of green products in 2007, including a 35% rise in its healthcare division. The biggest boost came from MRI scanner range plus patient monitors. The Philips MRI scanner Achieva 3.0T X-series has a 32% reduction in its environmental impact and the IntelliVue MMS X2 Patient Monitor consumes 52% less energy.

I’d like to see the results of this survey, so I will probably participate. Beacon Partners will ask HIMSS attendees four questions about which presidential candidate they think will most positively impact the industry.

I am trying to decide what to pack for HIMSS and was reminded how glad I am not to wear some boring company shirt that matches everyone else’s and really designed to look best on a man. Individuality and self-expression in fashion is so invigorating! Which led me to a thought that I should warn the fashion conscious that I plan to be take copious notes on who is wearing hot outfits to the HIStalk party next week, as well as who needs to be turned into the fashion police. If you are one of the unlucky forced to wear the corporate uniform, I promise to be kind, although I will give bonus points to any who are able to spice up and personalize some lame company golf shirt.

E-mail Inga.

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