Submit your article of up to 500 words in length, subject to editing for clarity and brevity (please note: I run only original articles that have not appeared on any Web site or in any publication and I can’t use anything that looks like a commercial pitch). I’ll use a phony name for you unless you tell me otherwise. Thanks for sharing!

Digital Information is Great, but Only if it’s Accurate
By Deborah Kohn

I am a patient at two local healthcare provider organizations that use the Epic suite of clinical information system modules for their base EHR. Both organizations must not yet have installed Epic’s CareEverywhere because currently, the two Epic systems do not talk to one another (or even look / act like one another). But with time, the installation of CareEverywhere should occur at both.

However, the reason I write this article is that either there is a flaw in Epic’s MyChart, the organizations do not know how to correctly configure MyChart, or there remains an important Epic user training issue. When I visit my providers at both organizations, I receive a hardcopy summary of my visit, which I must assume gets generated by MyChart because also I can view the data online via MyChart. Among many items listed on the summary are Current/ Future/Recurring Orders.

1) Orders listed on the summary and in the system cannot be corrected easily by an organization user, even the provider. I don’t know whether this is a user training issue (e.g., how to easily DC or cancel electronic orders that have been performed but, for some reason, not automatically canceled as Future Orders), a system flaw, or a poor implementation of the function. But for one set of lab orders, I was repeatedly asked for lab work to be performed when the lab work was performed months ago and I had the documentation to support this. Unfortunately, it took several handwritten notes and phone calls from me to the provider to finally update and delete the already performed lab orders from the system.

2) If orders listed on the patient’s hardcopy visit summary are incorrect (e.g., numbers of milligrams, duplicate orders, q 4 months not q 2 months, etc.), again these orders cannot be easily corrected by an organization user. That’s because, according to the organization’s users, these orders come from a different “database” than the “real” orders, which are correct in the system, but don’t print to the hardcopy correctly!

3) Either the Epic clinical system does not include or the provider organizations have yet to install or know how to install the following clinical decision support function: Recently, when my provider at one organization ordered a routine TB test, there was nothing in the system to alert the provider that the same, routine TB test was performed at this organization in July 2009. Consequently, this test was repeated in February 2010 at a cost of $398. When I complained about this, the provider organization commented that it is the provider’s responsibility to look back at all the orders in the system to see if a TB test had been performed within the last several years. I don’t blame the provider for not wanting to scroll through several years of past orders to determine this. And I was sorry I didn’t have my “paper” PHR, which I have kept for at least 30 years, with me at the time to double check this.

Now that electronic PHRs and visit summaries are appearing and patients are beginning to “use” (indirectly) organizational EHRs, not only will the organization’s internal users be complaining about system flaws, poor configurations, or outstanding training issues — but external users, the patients and recipients of health information exchanges, will be added to the lists. Consequently, it’s time our industry professionals address the management of the information, not just the technical and operational mechanisms for the sending and receiving of the information. Because it’s great to receive digital PHRs and visit summaries from provider organizations, but only when the information is accurate! Just ask ePatient Dave!

Deborah Kohn is a HIM professional and power user of EHR systems who not only makes sure her analog and digital health record information is correct, but remains dumbfounded that she need not do same with her bank record information.

We Are In the Business of Letting Clinicians Treat Patients
By Jef Williams

While riding the shuttle to my hotel at HIMSS in Atlanta, I overheard two strangers behind me comparing stories of the conference to one another. Their short exchange encapsulated for me both the HIMSS event and the climate in which we are now living. The conversation went something like this:

Woman: “I attended a session today conducted by an IT expert. You won’t believe what I heard”

Man: “Really?”

Woman: “Oh yes. The presenter was talking about successful EMR and IT implementations and actually said, ‘The physicians are the ones who have received the education. They are the ones who treat patients. So they must be the focus of our implementation.’”

Man: “You’re kidding.”

Woman: “No! I was so offended I nearly walked out.”

Man: “That’s ridiculous.”

Whether one agrees with the federal stimulus package and the push toward EHRs, the fact remains that it has created a significant impact on the business of healthcare IT. Clinicians, administration, and IT each play an important role in running the healthcare organization. Administration and IT serve, however, in support roles to the mission of providing an environment that allows clinicians to do what they do best: treat patients.

Over the past decade, the role of IT has grown significantly as healthcare has played catch-up to the most other industries in moving away from paper and manual systems to electronic and automated systems. This shift has had its share of challenges and most organizations can list a number of tragic stories of failed or messy implementations. Difficult workflow, poor user adoption, and meaningless data are all symptomatic of the problem of letting IT professionals make critical decisions sans clinical input regarding system procurement, design, and implementation.

It appears we have not learned our lesson. Introducing federal subsidized funding and reimbursement into the business model of clinical information systems the federal government has shifted focus to management and IT, leaving clinicians in the trailing position. The idea that caregivers come last could not be more backward to the true value proposition of healthcare. This industry is, and will remain, primarily about providing healthcare. No matter how advanced EHRs, widgets, and handheld devices become, patients will continue to measure satisfaction by whether a doctor knows what she’s doing, has the right tools to treat, and that they ultimately are healthy.

So to that presenter at HIMSS, I am not offended. It seems in this climate we have forgotten that we are in the business of letting clinicians treat patients. No EHR, HIS, PACS, eMAR, or any other system can provide better patient care without a doctor reaching out a stethoscope and asking her patient to breathe deeply. We in administration and IT get to play a valuable role in providing the tools and support to help our physicians provide better patient care. But we are just that — support.

Let’s not let the promise of a few dollars and the lure of a few vendor-hosted parties blind us to that fact.

Jef Williams is vice president of Ascendian Healthcare Consulting of Sacramento, CA.

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From Lee H: “Re: Marshfield Clinic. Bob Carlson is out of the CIO role after just a year. The previous CIO is back for the interim.” Unverified. Bob’s still listed as CIO on the clinic page, but not on his LinkedIn profile. The former CIO was Carl Christensen, moved to CTO last April.

From T. Corolla: “Re: HIStalk. I started reading you the day the blog hit the center column of the WSJ. There are a lot of blogs and there is a lot of criticism of the healthcare industry flung about. I’ve been in it for 35 years and I don’t have time for people who bleat just for the attention. The WSJ article gave you credibility. So I’ve been reading and recommending HIStalk ever since. It has been the single most helpful glimpse into this world. I get sick of the self-gratifying vendor claims and the paid endorsements. I want to know if a product is useful, if the people behind it are honest, capable and knowledgeable, and where it has been deployed. I want to know if promise didn’t pan out. When it is a success, I’d like to know what made it successful. I want to know about what other organisations are doing. I want to be told a straight story. A little humour helps because this is a crazy world and we all need a laugh. You and Inga do that well. What you both do is valuable to me. Thank you for doing it. And thank you for doing it so well.” And thank you for those extremely kind words, which I hesitate to run because it appears immodest, but I conveniently justify it with the rationalization that I’d run them even if they were critical. Since I’m feeling nostalgic, above is my very first HIStalk post from June 30, 2003.

From The PACS Designer: “Re: Windows 7 sales soaring. As we move toward the middle of this year, it looks like Windows 7 is going to be a huge success. The increased sales are from desktop users who want the latest and greatest from Microsoft.” I’m actually running the beta of Office 2010 and it’s pretty good, at least for the minimal uses I have for it. Ever notice that each Microsoft software release goes toward more muted colors? I like that since, taking a cue from car makers (maybe not the best source of inspiration) it makes the old model look gaudy and cheap by comparison. I also noticed that WinXP support ends on July 13, meaning you’d better either be planning to go with Win 7 or to install XP Service Pack 3.

From UKnowMe: “Re: Epic. It seems just about every week I hear about another organization that has selected Epic. How in the world are all of these implementations going to be staffed with experience people? Consulting firms and hospitals are already killing themselves trying to keep up. What will the market look like 3-6 months from now?” Probably about the same — experienced people pitching engagements, newbies actually running them.  

Listening: Brendan Benson, pretty good power pop if you’re in the mood for something peppy. I’m kind of not, so I’ve moved to Nightwish, dark Finnish operatic metal.

The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and the former president it fired in December exchange lawsuits. They allege fraud; she claims wrongful termination; the lawyers squeal with delight.

Trinity Health (MI) chooses workforce management solutions from Kronos for its 46,000 employees.

It’s Weird News Andy’s moment in the sun, about, as he calls it, “not the sharpest knife in the drawer.” A teenager working in an Internet cafe is assaulted by gang members who accuse him of cheating in a video game. He ends up with a 10-inch kitchen knife shoved completely through his skull, sticking out of both sides of his head. He strolls into the local hospital, where employees thinks it’s a teenage prank with one of those Halloween knives until he collapses. Luckily (or maybe not, depending on your perspective) it didn’t hit anything important and he’s fine. And in a rare double header, WNA says of a boy with a record 31 fingers and toes who’s having some of them removed, “Inigo Montoya must really hate this kid.” I just saw Princess Bride again last week, so I got it right away. Incontheivable!

The State of Massachusetts, drooling at the prospect of federally fueled HIT dollars, will hold the Governors National Health IT Conference on April 29-30 in Boston featuring Governor Deval Patrick, Kathleen Sebelius, David Blumenthal, John Halamka, Marc Overhage, Paul Tang, and Micky Tripathi. Registration runs $350 for non-profit employees and $500 for for-profit. Unfortunately, I expect the HIT benefits listed in the headline above are in order of importance.

The New England chapter of HIMSS will hold its annual public policy forum next Wednesday in Norwood, MA.

iMDsoft gets its first sale in Denmark, with Gentofte University Hospital choosing MetaVision clinical information system for its brand new ICU. The company also announces that Dominion, an IT solutions provider in Spain, will distribute MetaVision in that country.

The fired CEO of University Medical Center (NV) goes on trial, facing charges of giving no-bid contracts worth $10 million to acquaintances. One consulting company had no other clients and was housed in the garage of the owner’s mother. The CEO blamed the computer system for his need to stop providing monthly financial reports, after which the hospital was found to have lost $50 million in the previous two years.

I installed a cool iPhone theme on HIStalk Practice just to make Inga happy, so if you read it on a smart phone, it’s going to be fast and cool. I’ll put it on HIStalk when I get some time. 

BusinessWeek speculates that if Google or Microsoft makes a bid for Nuance as has been rumored, the healthcare operation, which makes up 44% of sales and includes Dragon Medical and eScription, could be split off and sold to an acquirer such as Cerner, HP, or IBM.

A university in Switzerland is examining bodies using a virtual autopsy robot based on MRI technology and topography software, which also makes a copy that can be studied later.

A man is arrested in Australia for posing as an female nurse in suicide chat rooms and persuading at least five people to kill themselves in front of a webcam while he watched.

In the UK, The Guardian claims that the $20 billion NPfiT project is closed to going down in flames, besieged by missed deadlines and flagging support. iSoft’s Lorenzo was supposed to be live this month under threat of replacement.

E-mail me.

HERtalk by Inga

TriZetto Group signs an agreement with 3M Health Information Systems giving TriZetto the right to include the 3M ICD-10 Code Translation tool with several new services for payers under its TriZetto Advantage 10 Services family. Initially TriZetto will integrate the 3M technology in a provider contract modeling service and ICD-10 translation mapping service.

Consulting firms Deloitte, ACS, and CSC hold the largest share of clinical implementation engagements, according to a new KLAS report. When acting as the lead on clinical engagements, ACS, CTG, and Deloitte earned the overall highest performance ratings, winning higher rankings than past leaders like IBM and CSC. In addition to full service firms, companies like maxIT Healthcare and Vitalize were noted for their experience and solid team of skilled consultants.

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center launches an enhanced version of EDIMS EHR in its emergency department. The latest release includes an RCM module, CPOE, and improved physician and nursing documentation tools.

Vitality will rely on the AT&T wireless network for its Vitality GlowCaps product, intelligent pill caps that fit on standard prescription bottles and use light and sound reminders to remind patients to take medications. If patients don’t comply, they’ll receive a phone call or text message reminder.

Lake Region Healthcare (MN) selects Allscripts EHR and PM solution for the 50 affiliated providers at Fergus Falls Medical Group.

The Mayo Clinic enters into a collaboration with VitalHealth Software to develop an EMR specifically for primary care physicians. The technology platform, which will launch later this year as a SaaS offering, is based on several years of development and implementation design within Mayo’s primary care practices. VitalHealth is a joint venture between the Mayo Clinic and the Netherlands-based Noaber Foundation

The Alaska Native Medical Center selects Cerner’s HIS solutions, including registration, scheduling, and CPOE. An October 2011 go-live is planned.

Hudson Headwaters Health Network (NY) adds  athenaClinicals for its 100 providers. Its 12 health centers already use athenahealth’s RCM service.

Psychiatric facility Silver Hill Hospital successfully implements Medsphere’s OpenVista EHR.

Chamberlin Edmonds and Associates introduce PinPoint, a Web-based patient eligibility screening application for hospitals.

East Carolina University’s Family Medicine residency program selects Retasure for retinal risk assessments.

Excellus BCBS awards 48 New York hospitals over $22 million in quality improvement incentive payments. The program targets improvements in clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient perception of care and patient satisfaction, and efficiency.

Disturbing: two armed gunman in Maryland storm a medical office training class and rob 15 students. Tuition was due that day, so each student was carrying $440. Despite the arrival of police and SWAT teams, the robbers got away.

NorthBay Healthcare (CA) implements 250 ZynxOrder evidence-based order sets within its Cerner Millenium CPOE.

Medical ID theft is definitely not funny, but I found a bit of humor in this story. A patient discovers a $12,000 charge on her healthcare credit card for a a liposuction procedure. She never had the procedure, though someone else did using her identity. After contacting the medical practice and police, she waited at the clinic for the impersonator to show up for the next appointment. Do you think she was able to identify the thief by her svelte thighs?

E-mail Inga.

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I’m heads-down most of the year trying to keep up with my day job and HIStalk. Once a year right after HIMSS, though, I like to run a reader survey and study the results so that I don’t lose the big picture. The time it takes for readers to fill out the survey is well spent since Inga and I plan the whole next year based on what readers tell us.

In the interest of transparency, I like to share what readers have told me. Here are some tidbits from the 2010 survey.

• The most common age range for readers is 41-50, followed by 51-60. Those groups summed up to 63% of readers. That might surprise some folks who think that only newbies read blogs.
• HIStalk’s readership has a lot of industry experience, with 41% having at 20 or more years and 74% having at least 10.
• Provider employees with IT purchasing influence make up 36% of readers.
• Readers are on the site often, with 38% saying they read whenever the e-mail comes, 23% daily or more often, and 98% more often than weekly. A full 92% said the frequency of new posts is about right, although a few suggested more frequent postings.
• While 63% of respondents get the e-mail blast when I write something new, 37% don’t. I’m a little surprised that folks read without getting the blast since that’s a sure way to be the first to know.
• For the question of the degree to which HIStalk influences reader perception of companies and products, 64% said some and 30% said a lot. Six percent said none at all.
• The most valued HIStalk features are (in order) news, rumors, Inga, and humor. Several respondents volunteered they liked my music recommendations, which I didn’t think to list separately.
• I asked whether readers have a higher interest in companies mentioned in HIStalk. An amazing 85% said yes.
• When asked whether readers were more interested in companies that sponsor HIStalk, 38% said yes.
• I asked about HIStalk’s influence on the industry. 12% said not much, 52% said some, 32% said a good bit, and 4% said a lot. If I were a vendor, I’d spin this to say that 88% of readers say HIStalk influences the industry.
• This is my favorite stat every year: when asked whether HIStalk helps you perform your job better, 82% of readers said yes. I could throw out all the other results and be happy with just this one, especially since it was at 65% a couple of surveys ago and I was pleased enough with that.

I asked what topics I should be covering more of. Some of the themes:

• Usability
• Niche vendors and emerging companies
• Implementation stories and case studies. Some suggested covering these by individual vendors to help others who are making selections.
• Index comments by vendor and/or hospital. I really like that idea. Maybe I should hire someone just to parse out the individual mentions and put them into a database or something.
• Write more about how individual hospitals expect to benefit under ARRA (or how they won’t).
• Get product reviews from real users, verify the submitter’s identity, but then run it anonymously. I really like that idea too.

I asked what one thing I should change. Some comments that represent major themes:

• Readers Write seem like PR pieces. Sometimes they do indeed. Please feel free to post comments saying so since that’s the best method I know to discourage self-puffery under the guise of sharing information. Someone had a good idea – require them to contain at least one negative point about whatever topic they are about.
• Ads take a long time to load on mobile device. Hint: add /PRINT/ to the link and you’ll get the text-only view that should work great on a smart phone.
• Fewer flashing ads. I don’t limit those (yet), but sponsors who want to score points with readers might want to eliminate the animation. This is the most common plea for change.
• Nothing. I like your format – some of the articles are more applicable to me than others, but other readers would pick the opposite. I can sort. Thanks for that. It’s hard to pick out the stories that have the broadest interest.
• More Inga but everyone probably says the same. They do indeed.
• Consistent organization and outlining of the post so I can find the parts I care about faster. That’s hard to do within a single posting given the breadth of topics.
• Open up the waiting list for your HIMSS reception so more can get in! It gets booked up so fast that I always wonder how many people would come if we didn’t have to cut it off. In the mean time, it’s fun to have it be a hot ticket.
• Can’t think of a thing. HIStalk is the best! Thank you.
• I love HIStalk — don’t change! Thank you.
• Shorter reader writes. I keep telling authors to keep it to 500 words if they want to hold reader attention. It’s hard for them to edit their own stuff, I guess, but it would take me a lot of time to do it for them. But prospective authors take the hint – less is more.
• Take a day off! Good idea – I did!
• Several readers said to publish more rumors no matter how wild and unlikely, while others said don’t publish unconfirmed rumors.
• When I first started reading, you walked a line between irreverence and curiosity. Now it seems more like cynicism and disdain. More than anything I’d love to see that curiosity come back. You might be right there. I will work on that.
• Have Monday morning update come out on MONDAY. Great idea, other than my employer would like me to actually do stuff for them on Monday. I usually write it and send it Saturday evening or Sunday since there’s no chance of interesting Sunday news anyway. I could hold the e-mail blast until Monday morning, but readers starting e-mailing me Saturday evening if they don’t get it (which I think is cute, especially when they are worried about me).
• Have something completely new 5 days a week. Long-time readers may remember that I experimented with that in 2005, writing Monday through Friday. It took a lot of time, but even more importantly, one reader was dead on when he told me that HIStalk wasn’t “special” when it hit his inbox every day.
• The world needs more Inga! It really does.
• No more warning about PDF links. That’s certainly easier for me, although if I were reading on a mobile device, I wouldn’t want to click a blind link to some 10-megabyte PDF.
• I would either adapt, add to, or begin an alternative, which includes more weight from the sustainment side. Includes honest opinions, real stories, the truth, about vendors and consultants. I keep coming back to this as an excellent idea.

I then opened it up for any general comments. Here are a few representative ones:

• Keep up the great work! I have no idea how you keep up with everything and then tag it with a great opinion. You make my job easier and and my life more fun! PS: keep Inga around forever!!!
• You do good work and you are very widely read in our industry. I appreciate that you don’t take yourself too seriously. I appreciate that you don’t take rumors too seriously, at least not until there is something to back them up.
• I respect and admire what you’ve been able to accomplish in this industry. Often, I get the news I read on HIStalk 2-3 days before I get it in any other forum! I also appreciate the way you wait to confirm some of the "iffy" news! Thanks and keep at it!
• Not additional thoughts just keep up the fair, honest and direct communication flowing.
• It rocks. Keep it up. At times I get more direct (speak: non-marketing) info than any of the paid research services I use.
• HIStalk has become my lunch reading. You do a great job with it – thank you.
• Good format – its easy to scan and read while listening in on that boring meeting or phone call. Good info overall. As a vendor, I like to see how my software, and my competitor’s, are viewed by the providers and buyers. What are the challenges, the risks they face, what influences how well a product is received and reviewed. For all of us NOT associated with Epic, we are hungry for any insight and help with decoding the provider’s and CTO’s mind.
• Don’t stop doing it – I know it’s a second job for you. HIStalk is the one fact check site I trust to winnow thru the vendor-based marketing crap out there and the big iron IT company’s PR spin. It’s almost as good as a free KLAS analysis.
• I’ve been a follower for a few years now. Stopping by is part of my daily routine, and when it comes to my doing research, HIStalk is on the short list of Internet stoops I hit immediately. I appreciate insight, attitude and opinion free of the general bullshit that tarnishes so many blogs. Keep on doing what you’re doing. I really appreciate it. Seriously.
• Straight forward, no nonsense, sometimes funny, usually very well written, brainy (and probably pretty) female accomplice. What else is there?
• Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but HIStalk is the only such newsletter I read. I’m in Univ/Hosp research IT (very different from clinical IT), so I don’t relate to a lot of the pure hosp news items – nevertheless, I never miss my daily HIStalk. I think the attraction is partly news, but also that readers can respond anonymously or not – and that you don’t bow and scrape to anyone, esp. sponsors – and I almost always learn something new.
• Nice job as usual … the blog seemingly gets better over time. Great content with professional and humorous delivery … Keep up the great work.
• Keep up the good work. I know how widely it is read. Is there some way to direct writings or advice or commentary specifically to "the workers"? the in the trench folks who I think see all this news and commentary as flying by over their heads far removed from them.
• Love it, thank you for all of the hard work!
• Great blog. I really appreciate the great reporting and knowledge. You’re appropriately suspicious of rumors, and you seem to have a great understanding of what news would be interesting to report. I’m a huge fan and recommend that everyone I know read. (Of course, they all already read you, so I can’t claim to be much of an additive evangelist.) It’s just really, really good. One of two blogs I read regularly (and the other one is a Michigan football blog).
• HIStalk is a great source for breaking information and juicy rumors that come out eventually in the traditional trade rags.
• I am constantly amazed at the breadth of information that jumps out of these pages. I learn more about the industry and movement within it from HIStalk than all the other subscriptions I have. Heck, you have published information about changes within my own company before we were informed of them. The recent articles on EMR allowed me to view the effort through the eyes of various leaders, which was enlightening. I look forward to finding 5-10 minutes to browse the information every day — one of my routines now.
• Just that this is my favorite blog, but I must confess the other blogs I routinely look at are the MTV Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives from Bravo tv.
• To the extent you can bring on more people to write (e.g. more Inga’s and HIStalk Mobile types) – that would be outstanding (and know you’re pursuing this).. and find some way of provoking more CIOs to weigh in… and encourage people to divulge product differentiators and pricing… Thanks again – you’re the highlight of my day and have helped me a better HIT professional by 10x.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

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From kITty: “Re: Detroit Medical Center. Sold to Vanguard Health Systems.” DMC signs a letter of intent to sell out to the for-profit Nashville chain, with the hospital’s CEO saying, “The nonprofit hospital model is killing health care in the city of Detroit.” It will be interesting to see how a for-profit operator can improve a situation in which the local economy is wrecked and the hospital is burdened with charity care. I assume from my long-ago, not fondly remembered experience in working for a for-profit hospital chain that the bean counters will run wild trying to cut costs and manipulate the patient mix for maximal profit, which is of course what for-profit companies do to benefit their shareholders, hopefully not at the expense of their customers (patients).

From mrsoul: “Re: today is Certified Nurses Day. Unlike CPHIMS, you actually have to verify education and experience BEFORE you can take the board exam. Re-certification does take effort and diligence. I am a CPHIMS too; but, I can tell you the RN-BC from ANCC testifies far more effort and experience to my peers. Happy vernal equinox!” Friday, March 19 was the day to recognize certified nurses, including those holding ANCC’s informatics nursing credential. If you are a board-certified RN, a belated happy Certified Nurses Day to you.

Trident Medical System (SC) goes live in the ED with Oacis HIE in a Carolina eHealth Alliance-sponsored program that connects 11 EDs. Trident is Columbia HCA’s hospital group and Oacis HIE connects their Meditech systems with each other and those of MUSC.

John McConnell, who made a couple of kings’ ransoms in selling out Medic Computer System and A4 and then bought golf courses, gets back in the software business. He’s buying a golf club management software vendor. Allscripts probably won’t be buying this one from him.

Parrish Medical Center (FL) claims a 31% reduction in mortality and a 77% drop in non-ICU code blue calls as it uses Clinical Xpert CareFocus from Thomson Reuters in a Six Sigma project involving its rapid response team. The software identifies patients at risk through an ongoing review of meds, results, vitals, orders, and other clinical data.

A few housekeeping reminders: drop your e-mail in the Subscribe to Updates box to your right to be among the first to know when I post something new. The Search box plows effortlessly through the nearly seven years’ of HIStalk to find mentions products, companies, and people. Click the ugly green Rumor Report button to send anonymous news my way, including any attachments. Add your industry events free to the HIStalk Calendar. If you want to look back on previous articles, use the search box or the Archives page. Please remember to support the companies that sponsor HIStalk by poring over the ads to your left occasionally and clicking those that interest you (and the text ads to your right as well). If you want a cleaner, leaner view of a post for printing or mobile viewing, click the View/Print Text Only link at the bottom of it to get a nicely formatted, print-ready version of just the article itself.

Readers generally agree that companies aren’t doing themselves any favors by holding their press releases until HIMSS week, along with everyone else. Make the announcement before the conference, 68% of you said. New poll to your right: what influence does the HIMSS annual conference have on hospital IT buying decisions?

I notice that the visitor count will hit 3 million before long, so I assume Inga is preparing for her usual celebratory pomp and circumstance. She loves watching that counter.

TPD has updated his excellent list of healthcare iPhone applications with many new apps.

The acquisition of QuadraMed by Francisco Partners has been completed.

An interesting perspective from Indra Neil Sarkar, director of biomedical informatics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, on the role of informatics related to EMRs:

AMIA is making very good headway in this community. There are only about 2,000 to 5,000 of us who are formally certified informaticians. Someone at a medium-sized hospital might have the title informatician, but they are really IT and not informatics. And if there is one term I have an issue with, it’s ‘health-IT,’ it’s the misnomer that we’re stuck with.

Informaticians need IT, but if you ask me to fix something on my computer, I am not a hardware guy. It’s a way of thinking. Many informaticians here fell into the field by accident. I grew up with computers and had strong ideas about the role of computers in microbiology. I am not a physician but I have a lot of interest in medicine. I had the notion I would spend most of my time in the lab using a computer on the side, but I have a dry lab, I don’t maintain a wet lab.

Creating data is not the problem; it’s understanding the data, and that is where AMIA fits in with its history. Its main meeting is more oriented toward electronic health records. This meeting is, ‘Let’s take EHRs and basic bioinformatics for granted. Now what can we do with the data?’

The Las Vegas newspaper reported on confidentiality breaches at University Medical Center a few months back, but this seems to stretching the point: an investigative piece reports that hospital managers don’t have good records of who has keys to the shred bins. The maximum fine for that egregious act: $400. Must have been a slow news day.

CHRISTUS Health engages MEDSEEK to develop its consumer portal and will eventually implement the company’s eHealth ecoSystem.

E-mail me.

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From Ex-Cerner Guy: “Re: CPSI. I prospected heavily in Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions, and can vouch for the need for a CPSI or Intra-Nexus. Quite a few Meditech sites were looking around and they were only getting called back by the McK Paragon types. There is definitely a market and some pent-up demand.”

From Dan D: “Re: Tom Skelton. He has left MED3OOO for another opportunity.” Unverified.

From RJ McMurphy: “Re: putting HIMSS in perspective. Vendors representing half of the hospital HIS/EMR systems in America weren’t even present! If you look at the HIMSS Analytics report in Modern Healthcare for Jan. 2009, you’ll see Meditech with 26.7% market share, Cerner with 12.6, and Siemens with 9.5. That adds up to 48.7%. All three chose to opt out of HIMSS. Basically it’s become a hype circus — no buying influence really happens there. It was more important earlier in the market cycle when PowerPoint was the main operating system for EMR vendors. Now almost all buying is done by peer site reference and Internet data gathering. Organizations like HIMSS, KLAS, Gartner are trying to make themselves more relevant with lots of hype about trends, etc. The world has changed and I laud those three for opting out and saving their shareholders and stakeholders the cash!”

From Doug Dinsdale: “Re: Merge. Dr. Dalai challenges the CEO of Merge to explain why the purchase of Amicas isn’t going to ruin both companies.”

Cerner makes the S&P 500.

A reader sends this picture of a billboard one of his patients asked him about.

Haemonetics extends its $60 million offer for GlobalMed Technologies to give that company time to settle a shareholder lawsuit seeking to block the acquisition.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (FL) chooses Allscripts PM/EHR for its 106 providers and 33 family medicine residents.

Singapore General Hospital wins the Microsoft HUG 2010 Innovation Award for “Best Use of Clinical Records – Inpatient” for its use of Eclipsys Sunrise Patient Flow, which improved bed placement time and reduced overhead.

A Weird News Andy find: a former dentist is accused of using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts inside the teeth of root canal patients, about which WNA says, “Maybe it’s for all those people who use paper to floss.”

More information on the HIMSS EHRA position on meaningful use is here.

McKesson announces a hosted storage option for Horizon Cardiology CVIS, with Cooper University Hospital (NJ) as an early adopter.

Software developed by Boston Medical Center, Northeastern University, and MIT that reduced readmissions by 30% is licensed for commercialization to Engineered Care Inc.

A new iPhone app called iResus walks users through emergency resuscitation, providing a metronome for timing chest compressions.

Nurse scheduling software vendor StaffKnex changes its name to OnShift. They apparently like conjoined words quite a bit.

Everything about this story is sad. A four-month-old Down’s baby dies in the UK after being given a tenfold overdose of the diuretic furosemide. The computerized warning issued to the doctor’s office is overridden by the receptionist. The pharmacist hears the technician questioning the dose with the prescriber, but doesn’t follow up. The neighbors of the parents, convinced they killed their own child, trash their house and steal all the baby’s belongings. Weeks later, the father kills himself by drug overdose. The coroner’s report finally came out this week, four years later, finding that the doctor and pharmacist were at fault.

Revenue cycle vendor Emdeon will acquire management consulting firm Healthcare Technology Management Services for $11 million.

At least somebody likes the proposed meaningful use criteria: AARP and Consumers Union.

Lexi-Comp releases its ON-HAND medical software for the Palm Pre and Pixi.

A KLAS report finds that 20% of smart pump buyers wouldn’t choose their current pump again, although 99% of CareFusion Alaris said they would. Still, the highest rated pump was the B. Braun Outlook.

Meridian Health (NJ) chooses CareAlign from Informatics Corporation of America to deliver an integrated clinical record to five hospitals.

MedFusion licenses LIS, molecular diagnostics, and AP software from Sunquest.

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