Weekender 5/4/18

Weekly News Recap

• In the UK, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt brings in Eric Topol, MD to lead a review of how to best train NHS staff on using new technologies including AI, digital health, robotics, and genomics.
• Reports surface that a West Palm Beach physician with ties to President Trump’s inner circle may be behind the VA/Cerner contract delay.
• Fitbit will use Google’s Cloud Healthcare API to share user data with providers via their EHRs.
• Beth Israel Deaconess taps CIO John Halamka, MD to lead its new Health Technology Exploration Center, which will explore the role of emerging technologies like blockchain and IoT in healthcare delivery.
• Cerner shares drop after the company reports lower than forecasted Q1 revenue of $1.29 billion.

Best Reader Comments

Moskowitz: ‘I know because I have to use it!’ The gall of a physician user pointing out that Cerner powerpoints don’t align with Cerner reality. (Vaporware?)

Have to ask: Is Bruce Moskowitz,the next nominee to head the VA? I mean, he is a doctor after all and that qualifies him for pretty much anything. Also: Would blockchain have prevented Trump from writing his own medical assessment (“healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”)? (Recovering CIO)

They absolutely seem lost since Neil died. It looks like no one wants to make decisions or set a direction. I was hoping the new CEO would step in and set a new direction, but that doesn’t seem to be, at the moment. The Siemens acquisition was interesting. They were basically buying market share and being the low cost ($1B being low, all things considering) they have basically made their money back. However, what they have done with Financials is baffling to me. One would have thought they would have taken the good parts of Soarian Financials and what little good parts there are with Millennium and create a new product. Yet, they have kept both lines and are still selling both financial systems. I mean, 3 years seems to be plenty of time to architect a new Revenue Cycle platform considering their resources …. The UIC issue you have to take as an outlier. Yes, Cerner pursued legal action but the fact remains, they are actually right in this context, whether we like it or not. Was the procurement process followed, NO. It is very clear, especially when Impact Advisors put in writing that they would ONLY bid on Epic work, should Epic win the bid. That is a clear conflict of interest, any way you slice it, and thus, violated the procurement process the state of Illinois has. Not to mention, Epic Implementation costs were NOT in the final bid, which again, was a requirement of the RFP. You may hate Cerner, and fine whatever, to each his own, but the FACTS are that there were violations of State Procurement and thus the selection process has to happen all over again. Epic probably still wins and the outcome is the same, but that isn’t the point. If anything, this is almost more on Impact than it is UIC. I mean, really, when you are doing a vendor selection, you NEVER state that you would ONLY support one vendor over the other. You have to stay neutral through the whole process. (Associate CIO)

Watercooler Talk Tidbits

We funded the teacher grant request of Ms. H in Texas, who asked for STEM game night activities for her special education class. She reports, "I cannot thank you enough for your donation to our classroom. My students and I have formed an obsession with STEM projects. My students love to learn about jobs they could have in the future based on information provided in the STEM activity. I have students that, at a young age, are picking what they would love to be when they grow up based off of these activities. My students are able to explore, plan, build, and report at a higher level due to these interactive STEM activities."

“Big data” (and “Big Brother” for that matter) takes on new meaning in China, where manufacturing companies have taken to outfitting workers with brainwave-monitoring helmets in an effort to keep tabs on their levels of concentration, anxiety, depression, and rage. One brain science academic in China ominously explains that, “When the system issues a warning, the manager asks the worker to take a day off or move to a less critical post. Some jobs require high concentration. There is no room for a mistake.” The technology is also being rolled out in hospitals to help staffers keep an eye on potentially violent patients.

NBC investigators get back unexpected results during the course of a report on at-home DNA testing kits. Results from Orig3n DNA’s $29 kit were included in a seven-page report that listed attributes like strong muscle force and cardiac output, but failed to note the DNA in question was in fact from a dog.

Boston Marathon officials decide to award prize money to non-elite runners who finished with faster times than their professional counterparts. Fifth-place finisher Jessica Chichester, a nurse practitioner from Brooklyn, will take home $15,000. She has jokingly claimed that “[f]requent hand washing and Lysol-ing everything” have been key to her running success.

Bill Gates turns down a semi-serious job offer from President Trump after he asks about the White House’s vacant science advisor position during a meeting in the Oval Office on global health security.

In Case You Missed It

• News 5/4/18
• Health Catalyst Acquires Medicity
• EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 5/3/18
• News 5/2/18
• Curbside Consult with Dr. Jayne 4/30/18
• Monday Morning Update 4/30/18
• What I Wish I’d Known Before … Creating, Defending, or Managing a Hospital IT Budget

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