Comments on: Monday Morning Update 6/8/09

By: sue me

sue me — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:30:34 +0000

Thank you Dr. Borges. I’ve been waiting for months for someone to speak to the obvious conflict of interest of the larger EMR vendors and their ability to pay the high CCHIT fees every year, effectively squeezing out the smaller EMR vendors that sell their products to doctors at lower fees with lower margins. What happens to the doctor that invests in a certified product today that’s not certified a year from now, due to the fact that the smaller vendor can’t keep up with the high fees to certify? Do they buy another product, run two at the same time, pay to convert to a larger vendor, like Allscripts with a higher implementation fee? Or do they simply begin to refuse to see Medicare or Medicaid patients because the strings attached are simply choking off their ability to provide healthcare services?

By: BlueDogSpirit

BlueDogSpirit — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:00:55 +0000

I agree with Al Borges. I just finished reading comments on John Moore’s blog. CJ posted a comment about Mark Leavitt and Steve Lieber, and gets straight to the point. Lieber should resign as CCHIT Trustee Chair, and Leavitt should resign for violating the Federal Standard conflict of interest. CJ states that Leavitt received more than $10,000 in salary and benefits, including insurance, 401K, bonuses and perks. CJ asks, “why is Leavitt listed as “left employment from HIMSS on Jan 1, 2009″? Does that mean Leavitt received a severance package from HIMSS? And what bonuses did Leavitt receive as an employee of HIMSS up until January 09? I am sure the IRS will be busy for some time sorting through HIMSS/CCHIT/AHIMA accounting records. I for one want the IRS or HHS to explain how a nested “for profit organization” (CCHIT) who was involuntarily dissolved from 4.11.08 to 2.17.09 still think they are credible or in any position to certify any products, much less offer a definition for “meaningful use” that was handed down to Leavitt by Lieber. I agree with CJ. I am sick of the double standard, and both Lieber and Leavitt need to go away. They were only in it for the money, why else would HIMSS invest money in their WHIT, AsiaPac and MiddleEast conferences, when there is less than 17% adoption rate in the U.S? They both need to focus on what is needed HERE in the U.S. and LISTEN to doctors and other health care professionals. Getting advice from Lieber, who has neither a technical or clinical background, is a joke. We need to take action and write to David Blumenthal. This has gone on much too long. Interesting reading below.

http://chilmarkresearch.com/2009/06/05/meaningful-use-by-june-16th/#comments

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/06/05/gawande-at-harvard-health-system-is-failing-our-people/tab/comments/#

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:41:20 +0000

MacBook – Have you opened it yet? Wait if you haven’t for this week – its the WWDC new announcements for new stuff. I always wait to purchase until after it. Not that anything will be wrong with your MacBook but just in case of buyers envy.

http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/

By: RustBelt Fan

RustBelt Fan — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:13:28 +0000

To encourage EMR adoption, would you support a mandatory EMR “lemon law” that would give purchasing providers their money back if they found the product they purchased unsuitable?

Sure! Great idea. Just wondering though….who’s going to define “unsuitable”? Same folks who are defining “meaningful use”?

By: Al Borges MD

Al Borges MD — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:42:06 +0000

>>> This further removes CCHIT from past ties to HIMSS and the vendors’ influence.

That’s not going to happen:

1) CCHIT was founded by and is still a shill for HIMSS.
2) Their chairman (Leavitt) gets compensated still by HIMSS.
3) Histalk reported the CCHIT still pays rent and other payments to its founder, HIMSS.
4) Their purpose in life is to decrease competition within the EMR market by their high cost “certification” process.

The recent Leavitt/Kibbe public discourse through the medium of the Washington Post was amazing- it shows how Mr. Leavitt is so sensitive about remarks on CCHIT that he stooped so low as to attack Dr. Kibbe publicly and in other ways.

For further reading-

1) Check out my MDNG blog article, “The Kibbe/Leavitt Rumble in the High Tech Jungle!” (5/27/2009), http://www.hcplive.com/mdnglive/The_HIT_Realist/Kibbe_Leavitt
2) My interview with Dr. Kibbe is soon pending.
3) My next MDNG magazine column will be about the need to use the VAMC VistA EMR, with its 30 year worldwide experience, with its excellent interoperability within VA hospitals, and with the fact that it’s FREE and NONCCHIT makes it a perfect candidate CCHIT and HITECH killer EMR application. Senator Rockefeller has a bill before Congress advocating open source EMRs, like VistA.

CCHIT, Leavitt, and all the CCHIT workgroup munchkins need to go, as this process has failed in its quest to find a simple interoperability standard. It’s time to let a heavyweight, VistA, take over.