Great points! Private vs. Public companies play different. Not that one is better than the other, there is just a lot of concern when it comes to negotiating contracts with stipulations so grey and all the risk on one party, that it pretty much throws out the notion that this is a partnership that the hospital and vendor are coming into an agreement. The notion that private vendors will have any easier time with guarantees is actually not too far off base. We have all known that Epic guarantees things within their contract that public companies are just not allowed to do from a revenue recognition standpoint. Like software support reductions on implementation delays if it’s somehow deemed it is on the fault of Epic. On the flipside, publicly held vendors have a much easier time in raising capital for headcount increases which will be needed to address any bottleneck when it comes to implementations of these systems…which a company like Epic will have a very hard time navigating (which will also in turn hurt Epic due to their software support reduction if they are unable to meet their timelines).

In the end, just like in politics…the lawyers will still make all the money.

I know people get burned out by not staying on the HIT topic, so…I agree that we have begun to blur healthcare reform and insurance reform as you mentioned. Insurance is obviously a big part, but there are a lot of variables in the equation that need to be looked at. Reform will take a long time, but it is important to get it right (as much as possible anyway).

And thanks to the link to the Nurse Brain app…really cool.