Here’s the ad (Click here to see a bigger version) from InformationWeek:
Consider this a variant of "Cash for Clunkers" – without the messiness of clunkers of which to dispose. Same deal, to an extent, as part of Obamacare is to "nudge" (there’s that Cass Sunstein reference!) medical professionals to automate their medical records. In wit, Obama is willing to pay:
- $44,000 to get a system for Medicare
- $63,750 for Medicaid
- $2,000,00 (base) for hospitals to get with it.
And yes, all your info is going to end up in the Feds hands – databases upon databases full of intimate, personal information online (yes, instant reaction should be "er, black hatters?". Look what the Illinois govt officials did when Joe the Plumber questioned The One as to why HIS wealth should be "spread around"!). Sure, a lot of docs are still paper based but have been moving, slowly, to more and more automated systems. The accounting part is easy – storing the actual medical records is much harder. Providing robust interoperatibility between systems – harder still.
At my last check up, I noticed that my doc had already done so – working from an iPad. And no option on my part to opt out (yeah, a medical version of Joe the Plumber in waiting?).
And in keeping with the Obama modus operandi, of COURSE, there is a Medical Records Czar! And of COURSE, there is a tinge (more of a tinge?) of crony capitalism…
First out of the gate is not the public Obamacare bright and shiny new IT offering but an offside (at least to the general public) was a Pentagon replacement race for the VA with three vendors:
- GE Healthcare (yes, that would Obama’s BFF, GE CEO, Jeff Immelt)
- Siemens (the German conglomerate)
- Epic Systems
This stood out:
There are only three options, according to Brewin: Adopt VistA; call in a large, established EHR vendor like Epic Systems, GE Healthcare or Siemens; or, the most cynical scenario, throw big piles of taxpayer cash at a well-connected contractor to adapt a commercial product to the Pentagon’s unique specifications and possibly "end up paying billions of dollars for software delivered late," he writes.
In a follow-up column, Brewin reports that "two reliable sources" have indicated that Epic is "all but pre-ordained" to replace AHLTA.
<noise of needle sliding across an LP on a turntable>. GE, I understand. Siemens, I get. Big system, big corporations.
Epic? OK, a bit of background- sure, it is a company of 4.200 headed by CEO and "Medical Records Czar" Judy Faulkner based in Wisconsin. Not only is her company a big deal in the EMR space, but (wait for it….c’mon…wait) is also a big Democrat donor ($300,000 from her & employees since 2006)! And it already got a $14 Million Coast Guard contract.
And now, guess who Obama named to his Health Information Technology Policy Committee (with a $19 Billion budget)? Yep – Ms. Faulkner. And her recorded stances do not favor "open systems" which foster a mix-n-match / best-function approach. Simply, it is that vs the traditional one-stop shop argument: when something goes wrong, who do you point the finger at? Having been both an IT mgr buying stuff and working for companies that make the stuff I used to buy, there are points to both.
But to be placed on the Committee that may well select her company’s software for the Pentagon (a "fore-step" to Obamacare?) simply for being politically connected. C’mon Skip, get with the program – it’s the Chicago Way!
From my Samsphere friend, Warner Todd Huston, comes more "connectedness":
Of course, Faulkner’s company isn’t just working on various government contracts. She also has some big union contracts, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for one… one of the biggest government employees unions.
- Kaiser Permanente (SEIU-UHW)
- Cleveland Clinic (SEIU)
- Cedars Sinai (SEIU-UHW and CIR-SEIU)
- NYU Langone Medical Center (SEIU)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (SEIU)
- Harvard Community Health Plan (SEIU)
- Sutter Health (SEIU)
- Geisinger Health System (SEIU)
As they say in the infomercials: aMAZIng! SEIU, Obama; have we seen this combo before?
So, a number of large healthcare facilities, the largest "political" union, on the Committee that will determine what software to deploy all over, and owning a company that sells the VERY type software that Obama has pledge to force on us all.
Obama has complained about "too big to fail" with respect to financial institutions – and if the worst scenarios come to pass, will Obama have created EXACTLY what he has railed against? And this one has the potential to have its electronic fingerprints on every piece of your medical history – and all 329, 999, 999 of your best buds.
I used to do a fair amount of database programming: what possibly could go wrong?
Hey, Obama’s in charge – we’re in the best of hands, right? Or will this be Epic FAIL?
