Comments on: Being John Glaser 7/21/09

By: Revenue Randy

Revenue Randy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:45:09 +0000

I believe John has lost it. Citing Amazon and Bank of America IT organizations as the basis of his article and point of view is beyond pitiful, it’s absolutely ludicrous. While these IT organizations may appear bright and shiny on the outside, they are ugly and broken on the inside. Recent customer satisfaction surveys of both companies strongly indicate their IT support is sub-par and many of their applications are dysfunctional.

By: Mark Moffitt

Mark Moffitt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:13:14 +0000

Good to see Glaser didn’t get the “kid glove” treatment.

It’s what I love about HISTalk. No-holds-barred comments even for those at the pinnacle of the field. Nowhere else but on this site.

And I admire those that chime in knowing full well what to expect. I respect that. I’d like to see more leaders go before the vocal and opinionated readers of HISTalk.

By: YadaYadaYada

YadaYadaYada — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:59:19 +0000

Limiting myself to two issues here:

1. Practically every organization, hospital or otherwise, claims (and most even believe) they fit your descriptions of “…smart, honest, seasoned, committed, and valued the healthy exchange of ideas”, and every other description you serve up. I’m not saying you’re fundamentally wrong, just that there must be a missing element since almost all execs fit themselves into these positive descriptors (although, in some cases, their employees would be choking in the background).

2. Real and effective re-engineering, which I agree has to be considered before designing new systems, becomes pretty much nonexistent in many orgs, in part because of the current mode of buying one-size-fits-none software packages. You will not have the most efficient systems if you’re left with forcing processes and workflows to fit someone elses pre-packaged choice. It would be like trying to re-engineer a car, but you’ve been given all the prefabricated body, engine, and running gear parts you must use. You may end up with some parts shuffling, but are more likely to lose efficiencies than gain them.

By: John Steinhouse

John Steinhouse — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:46:46 +0000

American Airlines. Amazon.com. Federal Express. Bank of America are all technology innovators in business. Two additional points to make about these companies is their strong belief in business continuity and business intelligence.

Business Continuity is a key component to running a successful business. Many healthcare organization overlook the importance of having information available 24/7 no matter what the circumstances. We read about health systems having downtime costing the system millions of dollars. This does not happen at the above mentioned companies because their systems are always available through high availability solutions.

Business Intelligence is another key component in running a successful business. Many health systems struggle to access real time data to make real time decisions. Many times there is one system used for running production and reporting. The above companies use real time data warehouses running BI tools to get the most out of their data

By: Frank Poggio

Frank Poggio — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:23:20 +0000

Jones has a good point.
Healthcare delivery is more complex than flying planes. For example, how do you define a good airlne: A firm that gets you there, on time and at a competitive price. How do define good healthcare? Now that’s a debate that has raged for decades.

But even so, that does not mean healthcare cannot benefit from some good work flow /process re-engineering. For example how many hospitals have a discharge time policy? And those that do – what percent of the patinets actually get discharged at that time (plus of minus 15 min of course). If the answer to either question is more than 20%, I’ll eat my hat.