Comments on: Monday Morning Update 2/2/09

By: Dan Field

Dan Field — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:07:29 +0000

“I heard from a CIO reader whose hospital, a big place, is 100% CPOE. I said I’d never heard of one doing all oncology and neonatal orders on a general CPOE system, but there’s at least that one. I agreed not to provide specifics, but I’ve asked for more information since I know many of us would like to know how they did it.”

I’m pretty sure we do all our orders on CPOE- I haven’t seen paper orders for more than a year. And we’re pretty big.
Dan
Kaiser Permanente

By: MM

MM — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:51:41 +0000

I just thought of an analogy of our discussion to present day events.

Can you think of another industry that offered outsized payoffs to the “best” pitchers; and the outcome of that practice? Hint: think money and a street with a wall.

It turns out the “best” pitchers will do anything to land the prize; including jeopardizing the very company that offers the prize.

By: MM

MM — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:49:34 +0000

A better arrangement for customers (me) would be a place I could go to get “information” about products when I need it versus the current situation where vendors “pitch” baseballs (using your methaphor) at customers until they hit one who happens to be looking for that product at that time.

But there is big money to be made for the “best” pitchers. And the process works. It may not be the most efficient process but powerful forces keep it from changing.

Very interesting discussion. I appreciate talking over the fence every once in a while. Maybe because I used to play ball on your side years back.

By: Willy Loman

Willy Loman — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:59:38 +0000

Nah ….it’s all good. Baseball has been very, very good to me. It’s just interesting how the game is played. We pay people to call you and you pay people to keep us from talking to you. The more we pay the less we talk. The truth is the game is changing and I’m spending more time changing the way we pitch and even more the way you swing. See you at plate!

By: MM

MM — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:50:48 +0000

Willy Loman Says: “Note to MM, you should be thankful any vendors are calling on you!”

I am. I appreciate vendors and didn’t mean it as an insult. Only that the number of calls I’ve been getting since the first of the year seems unusually high.

I will say I am surprised by your response. I sense hostility at the arrangement we find ourselves in vis-a-vis the relationship between healthcare IT vendors and customers.