I like much of what you wrote, with one exception: AI. I'd make AI a marketing highlight of the new…
Morning Headlines 12/23/15
The 2016 Interoperability Standards Advisory is Here
ONC releases its 2016 Interoperability Standards Advisory, a catalog of federally recognized interoperability standards and specifications.
Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) – Hosting Scope
DoD modifies the scope of its DHMSM program, adding a no-bid contract to Leidos for hosting services that are expected to cost $5 million per year.
Medicare Drug Spending Dashboard
CMS releases an online dashboard that highlights drug-specific spending trends for Medicare Part B and Part D prescriptions.
Baby Boomers Set Another Trend: More Golden Years In Poorer Health
A USC report predicts that Medicare spending will more than double to $1.2 trillion by 2013, with cost increases attributed to an aging baby-boomer generation that is in poorer health than prior generations, but has a longer life expectancy.
Interesting that interoperability of data was missed/left out in the bid submission when the DoD expressly required it. Leidos and Cerner should have developed their own, or partnered with a third-party for, a data sharing platform in order for the Cerner EHR to meet the real requirements of the DoD DHMSM EHR. This would also require Cerner to rework their data interface to meet the API of the data sharing platform. How this was missed in the initial analysis is troubling and points to the data hoarding mentality of the EHR vendors.
Either the new procurement is based on false information – The Cerner EMR can’t be used with value outside the Cerner data center. That’s the reason they are saying it has to be a sole source bid.
Did they really declare in their original bid, which REQUIRED a military data center, that their software couldn’t produce the needed benefits?
Did the other vendors get screwed here? They had to bid to run in a military data center too. Did Cerner have an inside track with Leidos to come out of the gate with this change.
And, this isn’t a 5M change. The original bid had a number for hosting costs at a military data center. This is likely a few hundred million dollar procurement at it’s core.
Cerner couldn’t host for 5M. Especially not if they have to upgrade their data center to military spec.
Plus, why as a nation, do we think it wise to host at a Cerner commercial data center which is likely easily compromised by the Chinese.
This is a scandal and someone should dig in. Lots of material here.
#Interoperability standards
All I can say is Ho Ho Ho. More than a decade of EHR sales that have done NO THING to benefit patients, improve efficiency, or reduce costs of health care. And when you factor in the costs of HIT as a cost of health care, there is a greater percent of GNP going to this industry.
This hosting will likely be done at Cerner’s Malvern (or “Cerner East”) data center, as it has already been vetted by the military and has all of the necessary security protocols in place.