....what bothers me most about this article is that it is a kind of "when did you stop beating your wife?" style.
It presents an attention getting assertion about an illusion. One expects to be provided with some objective, verifiable data that supports this assertion. What follows is mostly a flood of equally provocative questions, but not content! Where is the BEEF! It is not that I don't agree with the general sentiments which lurk in the background of the interrogatives. The author and I are probably of one mind in this area. My 35 years of exposure to the US Health Care delivery system, and on the international scene in Europe, South America, and the Western Pacific, have left me with the firm conviction that the majority of health oriented IT systems in use over the years have consistently remained in the sub-optimal range when viewed in just about any frame of reference. But, asking these questions, and using unsubstantiated characterizations to elevate the impact of these questions is fruitless. Note already that two colleagues on this list have made replies to this message that appear to accept the thesis of the article, and have begun to argue the etiology of the gap between VistA/Epic and other health care IT systems. They are quick to argue the causes of a problem that is not well characterized, and in the context of this article, unsubstantiated. The health care IT success gap is a huge issue in terms of economics, social impact, ...by what ever measures you might imagine. The forces at work that establish and nourish this situation are large, powerful and accustomed to the winds of challenge. Articles like this are not likely to have any significant impact on those forces. It is hard for me to imagine that this article would even come to the attention of those who wield power in the health care IT arena. I do have some strong beliefs about the nature of the "gap" and the processes that produce and sustain it. However, without a clear statement of the problem we want to understand and explain, that is shared and understood by all of us here on this forum, I think it would be a waste of my time and yours to launch some random arguments on the topic. ....anyway, the next time I drive by a medical center that isn't VistA/Epic based, I will just look away least I fall victim to this great "illusion". Regards, Richard. > From: "Ignacio Valdes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:25:03 -0600 > To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net>, <his-pt@e-healthexpert.org>, > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <openhealth@yahoogroups.com>, > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "'Tia Abner'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Hardhats-members] [os-wg] Editorial: RHIO's and the Illusion of > Health IT Success > > > "Does it bother anyone that for years, Health Information Technology > (IT) successes implied by the news and even in casual conversation may > largely be an illusion? Does it bother anyone that Regional Health > Information Organization (RHIO)'s might be failing at a very high > rate? It is important to ask the question given the United States rich > history of failure and two notable successes with large scale Health > IT." > > Read the full article at > http://www.linuxmednews.com/1134404398/index_html > > -- Ignacio Valdes, MD, MS > -- Editor: Linux Medical News > -- http://www.linuxmednews.com > > P.S.: Please link the article and the website to your page if you find > it useful. > _______________________________________________ > os-wg mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mailman.amia.org/mailman/listinfo/os-wg > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files > for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes > searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_idv37&alloc_id865&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
