IT Infrastructure for Telehealth

As baby-boomers continue to age, the demand on health services is set to double in the next 10 years. It’s not practical to believe the number of doctors and nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers will double also during this time, therefore, the industry will leverage technology to address these growing needs. Telephone and internet consultations will become increasingly more important as a method of providing and receiving healthcare advice.

Technology will be leveraged to provide care beyond the walls of hospitals and doctor’s offices, a routine trip to a doctor’s office could be replaced by a video, telephone, or even an internet consultation. Thereby free up time for the physician to spend with patients whose conditions require their full attention. In addition, healthcare providers will also increasingly need information systems to support non-collocated collaboration between clinicians.

The efficacy of telehealth requires the IT infrastructure to support this emerging remote physician-patient interaction; the infrastructure must connect and consolidate various imagining and clinical databases; and IT organizations must continually evaluate if and when SaaS and cloud computing is appropriate for their organization.

A Week in Review

Five Hot Trends in Healthcare Technologies

[ZDNet] The pace at which medicine and technology are converging is faster than most people realze. Today, point-of-care health technologies like tele-medicine and medical robots performing surgery in hospitals are common place. Apple iPads and other mobile devices have made their way into the exam room, and electronic medical record (EMR) vendors are following suit with compatible applications. Read full story here.


RealMed Facilitates Faster Payments by Embedding Claims Reconciliation Capabilities

[EMR and EHR News] RealMed, a leading provider of revenue cycle management solutions for health care industry, announced integration of its awarding winning capabilities with Epic. The integration provides Epic billing software clients with seamless access to RealMed’s powerful claims editing and error management tools from within the same interface used for processing claims today. Read full story here.


GlobalSign BIOWRAP Provides Healthcare, Pharmaceutical Industries with Security, Privacy and Compliance over all Digital Information

[SFGate] GlobalSign, one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in online security, announced that its BIOWRAP Encrypted File system is now available to healthcare and pharmaceutical industry customers. Read full story here.

Whimsical Friday: My Favorite App

[Whimsical Friday is a light-hearted note on any technology that impacts our lives in some form or fashion.]

I’ve always been considered a music junkie (a termed coined by a fellow blogger, Chris Harris), and a self-proclaimed audiophile (albeit, an audiophile on a beer budget).  So I guess it comes as no surprise my favorite app is related to my passion of music and audio equipment, Apple’s Remote app.  Apple describes their app as “a free, fun, and easy-to-use app that turns your iPhone, iPad,or iPod touch into a remote control.  So wherever you are in your house, you can control your computer’s iTunes library....” 

What makes this app really cool is that I’m able to stream my iTunes library to my home audio system via Apple’s AirPort Express.   Of course the audiophile in me has my iTunes library digitize in a lossless format; a wired connection from my home server to the AirPort Express, none of that wireless stuff because I don’t want one bit dropping from the signal on its way to the AVR; and of course, the output from the AirPort Express to my Rotel Processor is via an optical digital cable. 

What does all of this means, at the touch of a screen I have access to my entire music library to play through my carefully crafted audio system from any location in my home and it sounds exactly as if I was playing the actual CD.  Audio nirvana!! Except for those days when I relax with my virgin vinyl pressing of Stevie Wonder’s Innervision LP on my B&O turntable with its ortofon cartridge and a Discwasher vinyl record cleaner.  What can I say, sometimes nostalgia trumps technological advances.

Rapid Integration

Apple’s iPad has made tablet computing a reality, easy and cool. The list of touch-screen tablets is constantly evolving and growing, i.e. Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry Playbook, etc.

Not only have they become the must gadget to have, there’s a good collection of useful applications that are making life easier for both physicians and patients. Knowledge Networks reported in March 2011 that 27% of physicians in the United States had a tablet-style computer which is about 5 times the general public’s adoption rate.

This rapid adoption rate by physicians requires for healthcare IT professionals to be able to integrate these devices rapidly with their enterprise IT landscape. Long gone are the days where corporate infrastructure groups could take years before allowing new platforms into the enterprise. For instance, in 2006 a Fortune 100 company initially only allowed RIM’s BlackBerry mobile devices onto their corporate platform. As the iPhone grew in popularity, and apps, more employees and executives begin requesting to have the iPhone as part of the IT enterprise. Almost 4 years later, the infrastructure group finally granted approval to allow Apple’s iPhone and OS as part of the IT enterprise landscape. The problem is that Google’s Android mobile devices are now growing at an outlandish rate, so as you would probably guess, a significant amount of employees, and executives, are now clamoring to have Android devices approved. So not only is the company playing catch up with developing and integrating Apple OS apps with enterprise applications, they are also behind with Android development and integration.

In a healthcare IT setting, this slow speed of integration could very well be life or death for a patient. Particularly in the case of physicians in remote areas, where a significant amount of mobile apps have been developed to assist with providing more efficient and timely care. The bottom line, tablets and similar mobile devices have enough processing power to rival that of desktop computers. Because of open development, new apps are literally released everyday and are being developed to do what was once unimaginable. The impact and benefit of apps, and the high rate of adoption of tablet devices by physicians, requires healthcare IT organizations to make streamlining and integrating these new mobile technologies at a much more rapid pace than most other industries a top priority..

Whimsical Friday: Death of the Wristwatch

[Whimsical Friday is a light-hearted note on any technology that impacts our lives in some form or fashion.]

While out and about Saturday afternoon I asked my teenage son to tell me what time it was because I had forgotten to put on my watch. Instead of him looking at a wristwatch he pulled out his phone to give me the time. Just like my daughter, 7 years his elder, who told me 6 years ago she didn't need a wristwatch because she could always get the time from her phone and/or iPod, one of which will be in her possession at all times. For the next few days when I dropped off my son at school, I noticed there were only a few students actually wearing watches. Heck, on some days I would see no students with a wristwatch on. Do you think Timex, Swatch, and Rolex know that Generation Z aren’t wearing watches? When did this happen?

It’s easy to understand cell phones replacing pagers, two-way communication devices, and land line phones; and iPods replacing portable cassette and CD players, and even CD’s for that matter, but wristwatches? I should have realized this sooner when I was in NYC about 7 years ago, I remember making the observation that there were more street vendors selling DVD’s versus watches. However, I didn’t make the correlation that the wristwatch was actually being replaced by an emerging technology. I thought the street vendors had a higher profit margin in hawking bootleg DVD’s versus bootleg wristwatches, hence the change in products.

In any case, the wristwatch has been terminated seemingly from an unlikely technology, cell phones and portable music players, and the street vendors of NYC were the first to realize it.

The ONC Wants Your Feedback

Let your voice be heard, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Health IT Standards committee is requesting public comment about the temporary electronic health record certification for Stage 1 of the meaningful use program. One of the specific areas they are seeking input on is should it be required to test and certify that any EHR Module presented for testing and certification properly integrates with another EHR Module by a different vendor.

On some level, this debate boils down to a closed proprietary ecosystem-think Adobe’s Flash platform versus a more open ecosystem-think Apple’s app for their iPhone platform, basically, will interoperability among vendors be forced for certification? Even today with the examples I gave-which by the way is Apple’s point of view-there’s healthy dialogue among informational technology professionals on which system, Apple or Adobe is closed and/or more opened. These platforms have been out for decades with millions of users, and they still do not interact with each other.

EHR is too important and critical to let permanently defining the certification program of meaningful use drag on for decades. Take the discussion about EHR certification out of the break room, cubicle pod and conference room, and let the ONC officially hear your opinion by June 17.

EMR Implementation Training

One of the things that always surprised me was the level, or lack thereof, of basic computer skills that existed within most providers’ offices. This low level of computer skills existed not only with office personnel, but also with doctors and nurses. Therefore, when implementing new computer software a lot of time was spent providing basic computer training in addition to software specific training.

With EMR implementation it’s highly critical that both medical and office personnel are trained on EMR systems. If they are not properly trained they will become frustrated, and possibly, unproductive. An unproductive doctor and/or nurse in a clinical setting is not a good thing. If that happens it could sabotaged the best of EMR implementation projects.

Keep in mind that no two providers are alike and work flow processes differ from one provider to another, here are a couple of training recommendations when providing EMR training that are applicable across the board. First, access the computer skills of everyone that will be using the new system. If basic computer training is needed, include it in your training curriculum. When providing basic computer training take nothing for granted, heck, you may have to teach keyboarding, how to operate a mouse, etc., just be prepared to get the users up to speed on the most basic of computer skills. Secondly, provide one-on-one training when feasibly possible. I found one-on-one training works best for this set of users, especially for smaller to medium sized providers. If this is not possible, try to have at least one experienced (or a well-trained user) to support every two doctors during the initial days of “go live.” And thirdly, require ALL medical personnel to attend training, even if it means night and/or weekend training sessions. This may require flexibility on your part to accommodate everyone’s schedule, but it will be time well spent to have trained doctors/nurses using the system on day one of “go live” versus doctors/nurses doing OJT on the day of “go live”...

Remember the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, so save yourself a headache by implementing EMR in phases. Implement only one process at a time before turning up the next process. Because if glitches are caused by implementing an EMR system, i.e. billing, clinical, prescriptions, etc., the emergency system just may get activated (see cartoon)...

EMR Costs, Just Like Hens in a Hen House

On the heels of my last post, EMR APP for iPhone, I mentioned the cost of the EMR iPhone app was less than $200. Keep in mind EMR deployments can cost millions. In a report by the Free Library, “EMR: one hospital that got it right,” Dr. James Leo, associate chief medical officer for Long Beach (Calif.) Memorial, stated "EMR [systems] can cost hospitals $20 million to $200 million due to implementation, vendor and hardware costs, staff training, and upkeep." Smaller providers’ can expect to spend from $25,000 to $60,000 per physician to deploy an EMR system. For smaller providers this projected cost doesn't cover consulting, training, add-on-software, and upkeep.

Despite the availability of EMR iPhone apps, EMR deployment is still a costly project. For this reason, a good case can be made for EMR implementations to hire an external EMR consultant, which is not employed by the vendor, is money well spent. Go ahead, laugh. Coming from an IT professional, this is like the rooster telling the farmer he needs more chickens in the hen house, right? But for a project of this magnitude, whether it’s for a small provider’s practice or a large hospital institution, having someone on board that’s not affiliated with the vendor but has rolled out one of these systems is money well spent.

Just like the farmer will be ecstatic with the additional hens in the hen house once all of his hens are producing more eggs, providers will be happy that a set of non-partisan eyes are part of the project team when implementation challenges are encountered. As IT professionals, we know that implementation challenges will be ecountered.

Click here to read the entire article from Free Library.

EMR App for the iPhone

In a previous blog entry, “A Gadget Kind of Day” I blogged about Sling Box finally releasing the Sling Player Mobile app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Because of my excitement to finally get a chance to watch TV on my iPod Touch, I proudly stated the blog entry had nothing do with HIT, other than possibly up selling a techno-geek physician that had to have the latest gadget. Thanks to blogger Fred Pennic of Healthcare IT Consultant Blog for his blog post on an EHR app for the iPhone.



A company in California, Caretools, have developed an award winning app, iChart, specifically designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. In addition to the charting, iChart also includes prescription, billing and lab report modules. Basically, all patient data is entered on the iPhone app, or from a web based desktop computer. Once new information is added to a patient’s record via the iPhone, the data is first stored on the iPhone and then synchronized to an iChart Web based account.

So in a nutshell, iChart is a SaaS EMR with an iPhone front-end. Therefore, the same risks identified when evaluating a SaaS EMR must be taken into consideration when evaluating this app. Also, because patient data is stored on the iPhone, in order for this app to be HIPAA compliant the dreaded iPhone password must be enabled. Honestly, do you know anyone with an iPhone that has their password enabled? However from a price standpoint, Cartetools have competitively priced the iChart app. The basic product is priced at $139.00 for the first year with an annual renewal subscription fee of $99.

Here again, for the techno-geek type provider, this app can’t miss, its way cool!! For the bread and butter type provider, a desktop anchored down in the examination room or a nice size handheld tablet is more in line.

Click here to visit Caretools' website.

Read Fred Pennic’s complete blog article here.

Healthcare Reform Noise

Since there is so much noise in the system about the troubled waters President Obama’s overall Healthcare reform package is facing, let’s not forget that Healthcare IT reform is still on pace. The previously approved federal stimulus package included about 10 billion dollars in net Medicare and Medicaid incentives for EHR adoption.

In a recent interview, the National Coordinator for Health IT, David Blumenthal, discussed timetables for electronic health record adoption with American Medical News. Blumenthal said officials are still promoting EHR adoption in an effort to meet the President’s goal of providing all U.S. residents with an EHR by 2014. He also added that his office is still working under the guidelines of the federal economic stimulus law, which imposes penalties on health care providers who do not adopt health IT tools by 2015. However, Blumenthal acknowledged the challenges facing his office and physicians to make this happen but he believes his office and the physicians are up to meeting the challenge.

EHR adoption is alive and well, so now is not the time to let up on pushing EHR solutions. When presenting to clients and the user community it’s imperative that IT professionals deliver a clear and concise message that the current noise in the system does not affect the federal requirement for EHR adoption by 2015.

Read the complete American Medical News article here.

MJ, A Case For EHR

Could EHR have prevented Michael Jackson’s allegedly abuse of prescription drugs? Saying EHR could “prevent” prescription drug abuse may be a bit far reaching, but it definitely makes it more difficult for prescription drugs to be obtained fraudulently. Before you close your browser session, navigate to another web page, or write me off as having drank the “EHR Kool-Aid,” hear me out.

There's basically only one of three ways, or a combination thereof, for a person to easily obtain and abuse prescription drugs. The abuser must either visit several different physicians to obtain several prescriptions, enlist the help of others to obtain unnecessary prescriptions written in their name that eventually gets passed on to the abuser, and/or find a physician that would write fraudulent prescriptions.

The first scenario, one person visiting several doctors, currently physicians depend on the patient to self identify their past medical and medication history. What makes scenario one plausible is that a patient can see several doctors and conveniently forgets to inform the other physician of their current medications. With EHRs, all doctors will have access to the patients’ history as reported by the patient’s providers. Since the overwhelming majority of doctors are honest, this scenario is unlikely to contribute to the abuse of prescription drugs under an EHR system.

The second scenario, multiple people obtaining unneccessary prescriptions to be later passed on the abuser. Under EHR would someone really want to risk getting a prescription for someone else, to later be possibly denied this prescription when actually needed? Or worse yet, run the risk of altering their future treatment plans because of fraudulent prescriptions in their EHR?

The last scenario a dishonest provider writing uneccessary prescriptions. Although EHRs cannot prevent a physician from writing fraudulent scripts, but because EHR captures the patient’s history, and the visibility of EHR records by other providers may deter some from being dishonest. Similarly to home alarms, if a burglar wants to break into your specific house, a home alarm system would not stop it. Just like EHR doesn’t stop a dishonest physician from writing fraudulent scripts. However, a Rutgers University study, using five years of data, scientifically proved that burglars tend to avoid homes with alarm systems. So the fear of physicians being exposed by EHR’s historical prescription data, individuals not wanting to risk their own health and treatment with fraudulent data in their EHR, and physicians would have an accurate picture of a patient’s current and past treatments would inherently would reduce the number of fraudulent scripts written hence reducing the opportunity to abuse prescription drugs.

Maybe I did have a sip, or two, of the “EHR Kool-Aid.”

Read the complete Rutgers press release here.

Click here to see HIMSS definition of HER.

For Everything Else, VistA

I haven’t hid my affinity for open source code, especially as it relates to HITECH’s requirement for providers to implement EMRs. I’ve come across an interesting article from Washington Monthly, "Code Red," that does a nice job articulating my viewpoint. This article contrasts two EMR implementations, one institution uses the much touted open source system initially written for the Veterans Administration hospitals called VistA and the other institution implemented a proprietary solution developed by Cerner Corporation.

In a nutshell, the institution that used the open source system achieved dramatic positive results, i.e. the number of medical errors and deaths decreased drastically. Whereas the institution that installed the proprietary system, experienced disastrous results, i.e. in some cases two doctors were required to attend to a patient whereas previously only one was needed and the mortality rate for certain patient populations more than doubled. Although I’m sure a similar contrast could be made extolling the virtues of using a proprietary system, however, I think this article does a good job of articulating my position overall for open source code EHR.

In addition, this article also shed light on other possible unintended outcomes resulting from HITECH requiring providers to implement EHR a such a fast pace.

Read the complete Washington Monthly article here.

A Healthy Discussion on EHRs

Medscape reported although physicians agree with the potential advantages of electronic medical records (EMRs), they are taking issue at the current administration push for EHR’s on three fronts:

1. the incentive program for providers to implement EHRs;
2. quality of existing EMR systems; and
3. the drive to put EHR on every doctor’s desk.

In the words of President Obama, there’s nothing wrong with a healthy discussion on the issues. Although I don’t agree with all three of the physicians’ reasons (reason number 2 is a valid concern), I do believe this dialogue with physicians, bureaucrats, and the IT community will yield a better solution. However, the question becomes can all of the stakeholders stomach a painstakingly long “healthy discussion?” Or will everyone pick-up their marbles and go home, then in 2012 healthcare reform will be the bat used to beat up those that supported it?

Read the complete Medscape report here.

EMR Usability, Leapfrog or IBM OS/2

I stumbled across an interesting article this afternoon on FierceHealthIT by Anne Zieger, “HIMSS says poor usability cuts EMR adoption.” In her article she basically reports that HIMSS published a paper outlining usability as one of the key reasons that will prevent EMR adoption. In their paper, HIMSS proposed that usability should become a part of the EMR certification process. HIMSS EHR Usability Task Force chair Jeffery Belden, MD stated that if certified EMRs were guaranteed to be user-friendly, decision-makers would feel more confident in selecting such systems.

What concern me are the diverse computer skills among the provider community. Some providers take to technology like a fish to water, and there are others where it’s more like forcing a kid to eat spinach. Usability testing in its purest form is generally done using black-box testing techniques, whereas the aim is to observe a random set of people using the product to discover errors and areas of improvement. If the usability test group is skewed towards the technology adverse providers, the resulting interface could end up resembling a Leapfrog educational gadget. Or if it’s skewed towards the technology favorable providers the interface could end up resembling IBM’s ill-fated OS/2 operating system, a PC operating system that was only appreciated by the most technical savvy of technologists.

Yes, I have over simplified the issue of usability certification. Surely the random collection of usability testers (providers) would be a fair representation of the skill set in the provider community. However, the criticality of assembling a “fair representation” of the provider community does give me reason to pause on the idea of usability certification for EMR applications to "guarantee" user-friendliness.

Read the complete HIMSS paper here.


Read FierceHealth IT article here.

Open Source EHR, Back On Main Street

As I’ve stated many times before in this blog, I’m a proponent of open source software. Unfortunately, the required certification needed from Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) in order for providers to receive EHR stimulus put open source EHR on life support. Much to everyone’s delight, well open source advocates' delight, CCHIT recently announced they were modifying the EHR certification process.

To understand why this recently announced EHR certification modification could possibly put open source EHR back on Main Street, you must first understand why the original CCHIT’s certification process impacted EHR open source. In a nutshell, the impact boiled down to two major reasons. First, the cost for CCHIT certification is significant. By nature of open source software, no one particular entity owns the source code, so the issue is not only the cost, but also who pays for the certification, providers (users) or the developers? If providers are required to pay CCHIT certification is open source EHR really free? In addition, if the provider had to pick up the CCHIT certification fee, it would be easier to justify implementing a certified proprietary EHR package. Secondly, the current certification approach supports the certification the “end-to-end” solution versus integrated solutions that could be implemented to support the “end-to-end” business process. This could force some providers into needlessly retiring previously installed proven software in favor of a CCHIT certified “end-to-end” solution.

CCHIT announced they were replacing the single certification approach with multiple certification paths. One of the new certification paths would have a simplified, low cost site-level certification path. In addition, a path was created to allow for modular certification. This would be welcomed from providers who prefer to integrate technologies from various certified sources.

Once the details are ironed out for the new CCHIT EHR certification, this has the potential of putting open source EHR back in play for smaller providers.

Read the official CCHIT announcement article here.

EHR, All or Nothing

American Medical News reported that doctors are pushing back on penalties for not implementing EHRs. The reason for this push back is because they feel it unfairly punishes physicians who can’t afford the up-front cost of adopting an electronic medical record system.

Although their reason has some validity, let’s not lose site of the end goal, nationwide EHRs. If the penalties are removed, physicians would no longer be on a timetable to have an EHR system implemented. This would slow down the nationwide adoption of EHRs which could force the nation into two separate systems. One electronic system, whereas patient’s medical information could be shared only if all providers in the patient’s vertical supply chain have EHRs. Otherwise, the analog system would be engaged, which is what we have now.

Surely at some point in your career you’ve had the misfortune of being involved with a project that has kept, or attempted to keep, the legacy system functioning while the new system makes it through one cycle of processing. Whether that’s a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual cycle, what one quickly learn is after the new system has been operational for 4 or more hours, falling back to the legacy system is virtually impossible (riskier), or worst yet, its quickly discovered that the legacy system can NOT be turned off. Either scenario is not pretty.

The lesson that physicians must learned, that most IT professionals probably already know, is that negotiating to remove the penalties for providers that do not implement EHRs will be a zero-sum agreement, nationwide EHRs will not happen. When it comes to implementing EHRs, unfortunately you can’t “have your cake and eat it too.”

Read entire American Medical News article here.

Electronic Record Keeping?

Just like in any good corporate vision statement, marketing plan, and/or program a bare minimum requirement for a successful campaign is for everyone to speak the same language. To quote a former client, “everyone must sing from the same hymnal.” In a CNN article by John King (Cleveland Clinic pushes into future), he quoted the CEO of Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Toby Cosgrove, saying “he believes electronic record keeping—and sharing—will lead to few duplicative tests and other cost savings....” What is electronic record keeping? Surely he meant EHR, electronic health records.

“Why am I nitpicking, why is this important” you asked. First of all, Cleveland Clinic is not just some provider in obscurity in the Midwest. This clinic is often cited as a model of what healthcare reform would have other providers to do. President Obama quite often cites the Cleveland Clinic when talking about his healthcare reform package. The doctors and executive management team at Cleveland Clinic are frequently consulted by lawmakers, industry experts and others. So if anyone should have been up to par on the correct terminology for the administration’s reform package, Dr. Cosgrove should have been. Secondly, as President Obama’s healthcare plan gasps for air, it’s important that a consistent and clear message is articulated if his plan is to succeed. And thirdly, referring to EHR as electronic record keeping marginalizes the impact and complexity of electronic health records management. Just like the term “book keeping” does to “financial analysis.” The next time you see a financial analyst or an accountant for that matter, refer to them as a bookkeeper and see what happens.

As information technologists, whether you agree with the proposed healthcare reforms or not, you must be clear and consistent when addressing the topic of electronic health records. Now is not the time to cause confusion, it will come back to bite you. As you know, if systems are implemented when confusion is in the air IT is the function that usually suffers, or is blamed.

Read entire CNN article here.

The Best and Brightest

Over the weekend, I attended Yale commencement exercises to see my daughter graduate (the reason I haven’t updated my blog in a while as we prepared for family & friends from several states attending her graduation, her celebration activities, moving her out of the dorm into an apartment, etc.). I was surprised at the number of graduates that were continuing on to get their MPH, Masters in Public Health, degree. During my college days, obtaining a MPH automatically meant you aspired to be a hospital administrator or work for a state agency, not exactly a “glam” job that attracts the young, best, and brightest minds.

According to my daughter, a graduating senior that’s continuing on to get a MPH degree, the increased interest in this degree begin during the past presidential election campaign, healthcare reform was at the top of each candidate's list of issues that must be addressed my the next President. In addition, the sparkle of Wall Street was becoming dull. As promised, the current administration made healthcare reform a top priority. Now that the current administration is widely popular, young, cool, and hip, "public health" is now vogue.

Albeit, most of the young and talented minds have dreams of working in the Oval office, walking on the Whitehouse lawn with a slight swagger, and riding Air Force One advising the President but for now if the “best and brightest” could just settle the debate on what “meaningful use” means in the ARRA stipulations for receipt of funds for EHR implementation would be “cool” enough for me. But who knows, I may have unknowingly met our next Health and Human Services secretary this past weekend.

A Gadget Kind of Day

In the words of Ice Cube, "today was a good day." One of the most anticipated apps for the iPhone was finally released, SlingPlayer Mobile [read complete story in InfoWorld]. I've had my SlingBox since Decemember 2007, about 10 months later I purchased my iPod Touch for one reason, and one reason only, so I could Sling live TV on-the-go (a Wi-Fi connection is required). I'm giddy because today is the day that my “tech-toys” can finally merged. Prior to today, the only way to get SlingPlayer mobile on my Touch was to jailbreak it. Since I'm not one to "jailbreak" anything, I had to wait it out.

What does this have to do with Healthcare IT? Not a doggone thing! Wait a minute, maybe I spoke too fast. I remember my days as a system integrator when I supported small physician’s practices. There appeared to be a level of envy, or maybe jealousy, that existed among them. Such that if one brought a new BMW, the others would buy a new Mercedes or Lexus. If one hung a $5,000 piece of fine art in their office, the others would put pieces of fine art into their office. When we installed a wired network with Internet access in one doctor’s office, the others followed suit soon thereafter. You see where I going with this, right? If you're a system integrator, show off this "way cool" app to the doctor that must have all the latest gadgets, trust me, he will want this. Of course, you offer to set this all up for him. Then once he shows it off to his physician pals, the others will follow….cha-ching!!

If you have no idea what a SlingBox and/or SlingPlayer is check out the YouTube video posted by PhoneDog.com.

Open Source, Un-American

I’ve said in several blog posts that I’m a huge fan of Open Source apps, but the bill introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia on April 24 to fast track open-source electronic records, is not a good idea. Not that the use of Open Source code is bad, but to nudge everyone into using Open Source code is not the answer. The benefits outlined for using Open Source code is right on the money, but capitalism is still king in the American marketplace. To force an Open Source solution seems inherently, un-American. All the government needs to do is define the standards and then let the providers choose which vendor and/or application to implement those standards. Read more..

The only thing that’s more ridiculous than this is the legislation introduced by Rep. Joe Barton of Texas that would prevent the NCAA from calling a game a national championship unless it’s the outcome of a playoff. As much as I would like to see a NCAA football playoff, I’m sure the country has more pressing matters to be concerned with.