Comments on: Monday Morning Update 6/29/09

By: PezMan

PezMan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:08:03 +0000

RE: Sean

Mac OSX runs on Intel. Not quite sure what you are talking about with the “new hardware.” You can buy the OS and a blank “PC” and load it up. Mac OSX will even let you load Windows on a partition with your HDD using a free tool called “Bootcamp.” That’s just how incredibly easy OSX is…

By: Pschlyer

Pschlyer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:00:15 +0000

I agree with the suggestion that technology vendors need to be held accountable for data exchange capability. We know what works, and it’s not just an Electronic Health Record in and of itself. It’s the infrastructure underneath the EHR that makes it actually work, including being able to accurately link patient identities across systems and provide real time search capabilities to find the right patient at the point of care. A patient registry performs this critical function and should be part of the requirements. It’s been a proven catalyst for information exchange in Canada, in the NHIN and countless public and private exchanges throughout the US.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:41:39 +0000

I say buy Windows 7 at $49.99. If you don’t use it in October then sell it to someone else for $50.00. It won’t get any cheaper.

I have been using Windows 7 and it is awesome. It’s the best MS product I’ve tried in years. I also like the ribbon a lot though ) Windows 7 just works. It’s actually faster on my old laptop than XP was. The install was so freaking fast. It installed quicker than Acrobat Pro.

The problem will still be for manufacturers to update their drivers (for older devices) for the launch. This is something MS can’t force them to do. However, most have said they learned from Vista’s launch (and their customer’s complaints) and will have them available.

The only really big change I’ve noticed in the UI is the task bar. It more like a hybrid of OS X’s dock and the standard task bar. It works really well but it will come as a shock to some. There are videos about it that shows how it works.

OS X is nice too but if you don’t have a Mac then you need new hardware. Personally, I don’t think Apple’s software would do so well if they had to support dozens of PC manufacturers. At least, Windows and Linux let you choose the hardware that’s best for you.

By: Rick Weinhaus, MD

Rick Weinhaus, MD — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:42:50 +0000

The details of the letter from the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) to Dr. Blumenthal referenced above are very different from the impression given by the summary.

While some of the suggestions seem good to me, (for instance, ‘meaningful use’ should be seen through the patient’s eyes), a careful reading of the rest of the letter reveals a commitment to CCHIT-certified systems as opposed to having the new national HIT Policy Committee define ‘certified EHR’.

AMDIS recommends:

Use only EHR systems that are considered “safe and effective” by a trusted authority.

and
. . . we recommend that the most important 2011 stretch goal for most physicians and hospitals will that physicians and staff become regular and appropriate users of those core EHR functionalities that are relatively easy to implement and use in EHR systems certified under the 2008 CCHIT criteria.

As I read the letter, the core recommendation is to have all physicians start to use a CCHIT-certified system on a regular and consistent basis, and then address issues of ‘meaningful use’ down the road.

By: DrM

DrM — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:07:23 +0000

@rxPete – not true about the pricing limitation. Pulled from the Apple site at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html – “Upgrading from Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. If your Intel-based Mac is running Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, just purchase Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard when it’s available and follow the simple installation instructions.” No asterisk, no fine print, and directly below the stuff about the $9.95 upgrade if you bought a Mac after a certain date, so it’s the right place for that sort of thing if it existed. It would be a highly odd business decision if they tried that anyway, and impossible to enforce because I could just purchase it off of Amazon if they tried any “register your Mac” nonsense. Also no idea where you get your upgrade cost numbers from, my Windows numbers may be slightly less than my Mac only because I skipped Vista, but it’s still probably more because I had to buy a new XP license when my MB died because the OEM one wouldn’t transfer (transferred my OS X license to 3 Macs in the meantime).