healthy4u

HIMSS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas - Fitting for People Who Gamble With People's Lives to Make a Buck?

The setting for the Feb. 2012 annual meeting of <a href="http://www.himssconference.org/">HIMSS</a> (the Health Information Management Systems Society, the gargantuan health IT trade group), ongoing as of this writing, is the Venetian Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV. Judging by the pictures posted at the HisTALK blog <a href="http://histalk2.com/2012/02/21/himss-22112/">here</a> of the event, now ongoing, it seems to be one big, happy party: <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ZvHKibjTPjNNCRYqlAywA333MHS3Pc9ZX0G3YI8yIN9ZwuFK359McJLNSt7Vi3V293fzipOvXMLhOp-wFtsE-ua-8dX1nm1LGTJ0u1wqP_VvcgGYi-1RRVb5EuVMhCiiDWCNJubpPlii/s1600/dice.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711969678677442594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ZvHKibjTPjNNCRYqlAywA333MHS3Pc9ZX0G3YI8yIN9ZwuFK359McJLNSt7Vi3V293fzipOvXMLhOp-wFtsE-ua-8dX1nm1LGTJ0u1wqP_VvcgGYi-1RRVb5EuVMhCiiDWCNJubpPlii/s320/dice.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 181px; height: 242px;" /></a>Rolling the dice at HIMSS 2012, Las Vegas. </div> This is ironically apopos for an organization whose leaders <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/07/barry-chaiken-md-mph-lets-be-patient.html">beg for special accommodation</a> for a technology they know their industry has not learned how to "do right" after decades of profiteering (at patient's expense), thus gambling with live, unconsenting people as the poker chips: <blockquote> Barry Chaiken, former HIMSS Chairman of the Board, <a href="http://histalk2.com/2010/07/19/histalk-interviews-barry-chaiken/">July 2010 interview</a>: "We’re still learning, in healthcare, about that user interface. We’re still learning about how to put the applications together in a clinical workflow that’s going to be valuable to the patients and to the people who are providing care. Let’s be patient. Let’s give them a chance to figure out the right way to do this. Let’s give the application providers an opportunity to make this better." [While the systems remain in use on live, unconsenting patients - ed.] </blockquote> It is difficult to imagine such a statement coming from the aviation, nuclear energy or other lives-at-risk industries. HIMSS 2012 really seems to be a fun party. Even Elvis was in attendance: <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7I5Qubd3bi5K8MvyKluWflkJ9a-gKte8HHrVJkn1hUhG1OO63e_egpDg5ZNhaHZyl73PD5a4TYiZ2YSPJo7xcpdAXYs2MASN-poBgh3JQjGj7UtaIY9nCivXNVRz5iJK_tQ08MWyqIIi1/s1600/elvis.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711969880801128546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7I5Qubd3bi5K8MvyKluWflkJ9a-gKte8HHrVJkn1hUhG1OO63e_egpDg5ZNhaHZyl73PD5a4TYiZ2YSPJo7xcpdAXYs2MASN-poBgh3JQjGj7UtaIY9nCivXNVRz5iJK_tQ08MWyqIIi1/s320/elvis.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 181px; height: 242px;" /></a>Elvis, a fitting icon for an industry trade show on health IT? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley">Journalist Tony Scherman wr</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley">ote</a> that by early 1977, "Elvis Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts." </div> Sounds like what the commercial health IT sector has done to the good intentions and well-thought out applications created by the health IT pioneers. I note that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Nevada">prostitution is legal in Las Vegas</a> as well. This allows making money from objectification of human beings, although at least the latter give consent to the exploitation of their bodies. Final thought: What was missing from HIMSS was the ED EHR Slot Machine of Risk. (From my March 2011 post "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-emr-forensic-evaluation-from-down.html">On an EMR Forensic Evaluation by Professor Jon Patrick from Down Under: More Thoughts</a>.") <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcU1f1u1xxTYzAFs-kQfsH8mbfXmMmM1y_N6NJyqUe84mGs7L1iES7gq9kDC1Sor-Ou5voVcgAigLNV7MDtghk4cj_BBu55iz2SAxUMcr_c6FBjgjcRLOEv_sTCeLSWdeS80MCINk5tAjJ/s1600/winner.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711973402090193266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcU1f1u1xxTYzAFs-kQfsH8mbfXmMmM1y_N6NJyqUe84mGs7L1iES7gq9kDC1Sor-Ou5voVcgAigLNV7MDtghk4cj_BBu55iz2SAxUMcr_c6FBjgjcRLOEv_sTCeLSWdeS80MCINk5tAjJ/s320/winner.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" /></a>The ED EHR Slot Machine. Click to enlarge. You've hit the ED EHR mis-processing jackpot! Perhaps today is a good day to die... </div> -- SS

HIMSS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas - Fitting for People Who Gamble With People's Lives to Make a Buck?

The setting for the Feb. 2012 annual meeting of HIMSS (the Health Information Management Systems Society, the gargantuan health IT trade gr...

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BLOGSCAN - Television Advertising Revenue and the Anechoic Effect

We have often discussed the <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/anechoic%20effect">anechoic effect</a>, how cases involving or discussions of the topics we address on <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/">Health Care Renewal</a>, the concentration and abuse of power in health care, fail to produce any responses, or echoes.  Two recent blog posts discussed one way in whicht the anechoic effect might be generated. A <a href="http://currentmedicine.tv/2012/specialties/psychiatry/youre-telling-me-this-now-why-the-news-is-suddenly-critical-of-statins-and-antidepressants">post</a> by Dr Steven Greer on CurrentMedicine.TV, <a href="http://alison-bass.com/blog/2012/02/why-60-minutes-suddenly-discovered-the-placebo-effect-in-treating-depression">enlarged upon</a> by Alison Bass on the Alison Bass blog, discussed a segment on 60 Minutes yesterday that dealt with the evidence that anti-depressant drugs may not be efficacious for mild to moderate depression.  Since this evidence is about four years old, the question is why it has only made it to the main-stream media now?  Both Dr Greer and Ms Bass think it may be because the patents on most of the newer, mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) type anti-depressants have run out.  Therefore, their manufacturers may no longer be interested in using the clout they derive from paying millions for television advertising to keep programs critical of these drugs off the air.  The implication is that large health care organizations may often use threats to withdraw advertising to forestall criticisms of their products or their agendas in the media, hence increasing the anechoic effect. ADDENDUM (27 February, 2012) See also <a href="http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2012/02/24/the-neurotic-covenants">comments</a> on the 1BoringOldMan blog.

BLOGSCAN - Television Advertising Revenue and the Anechoic Effect

We have often discussed the anechoic effect , how cases involving or discussions of the topics we address on Health Care Renewal , the conce...

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Is ONC Stonewalling on the issue of HIT Certification, Safety and Liability?

At my Feb. 16, 2012 post "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/02/hospitals-and-doctors-use-health-it-at.html">Hospitals and Doctors Use Health IT at Their Own Risk - Even if Certified</a>" I wrote that an ONC-ATCB (Authorized Testing and Certification Body) replied to my email inquiry about health IT certification, safety and liability indemnification by stating that: <blockquote>What was suggested in the email below (freedom from liability for users of the system, etc.) would be out of scope for ONC-ATCB testing based on the given criteria.</blockquote> [That is, the criteria used in testing <a href="http://healthcare.nist.gov/use_testing/effective_requirements.html" style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">here</a> - ed.] What I did not include in that post was the fact that some months ago, I had emailed ONC directly with the same questions, and then called them on the phone with those questions at about the same time as I inquired of the ATCB. ONC itself never responded. There are several possibilities: <ul><li>They don't know the answer.</li><li>They don't want to respond.</li><li>They don't care to respond.</li></ul> Dismissing possibility #1, these civil servants appear to be stonewalling on the issue. It would be nice to hear ONC itself admit the term "certification" is a gossamer guarantee of health IT safety, efficacy and indemnification of purchasers, implementers and users from potential EHR-related liability.I am not holding my breath. -- SSAddendum: An ONC representative did get back to me on Feb. 27, but I told them my question had already been answered by ONC ATCB's.

Is ONC Stonewalling on the issue of HIT Certification, Safety and Liability?

At my Feb. 16, 2012 post " Hospitals and Doctors Use Health IT at Their Own Risk - Even if Certified " I wrote that an ONC-ATCB (A...

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Two Steps Back: International Council on Human Rights Policy Closes, Dutch Healthy Skepticism Ends Domestic Focus

We have <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/12/corruption-kills-so-why-is-health-care.html">noted</a> the paucity of organized efforts to combat health care corruption and related phenomena.  What efforts exist tend to focus on corruption elsewhere, as if no one is willing to admit it can occur in their back yard.  Now one organization that has made some efforts in this sphere is closing, and another will explicitly focus its efforts on problems elsewhere. International Council on Human Rights Policy Closes The <a href="http://www.ichrp.org/">ICHRP</a> was located in Geneva.  It had a wide focus, but was willing to consider how corruption could affect human rights.  Its publication, <a href="http://www.ichrp.org/en/projects/131">Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection</a>, explicitly noted the threat of corruption to the right to health.  (Note that in international policy, this right is not considered to be to unlimited health care, but to "attainment of the highest available standard of physical and mental health.")  It went on to list a variety of ways in which government corruption, or corruption of health care leaders or organizations outside of government could harm health.  (Full disclosure: I participated in a meeting the IHCRP convened to review a draft of this publication.) Now, as <a href="http://www.ichrpblog.org/2012/02/last-post.html">announced</a> in the IHCRP blog, the IHCRP will close at the end of this month: <blockquote>The decision to close was taken by the Executive Board primarily due to continued financial difficulties, largely a result of the difficult funding climate, especially for human rights and even more so for human rights policy research. It is especially regrettable because for more than a decade the ICHRP stimulated co-operation and exchange across the non-governmental, governmental and inter-governmental sectors, and strove to mediate between competing perspectives.</blockquote> Healthy Skepticism in the Netherland to Only Focus on Problems "Abroad" Today I got a press release (as of 21 February available <a href="http://www.gezondescepsis.nl/component/content/article/1564.html">here</a>) from the Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine (IVM), that stated: <blockquote>The Dutch Institute for Rational Use of Medicine (IVM) is changing the course of its renowned Healthy Skepticism programme, which has critically monitored the pharmaceutical industry’s impact on the use of medication over the past ten years. Healthy Skepticism will be shifting attention away from its activities in the Netherlands, choosing to focus instead on supporting initiatives abroad. </blockquote> The immediate reason seemed to be lack of funding, like the reason advanced for the closing of the ICHRP: <blockquote>The change is prompted by the fact that the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has eliminated funding for the programme....</blockquote> The announcement first suggested that the change of focus came about because the initiative had attained its original goals: <blockquote>another factor is the radical change that has occurred in the pharmaceutical industry’s attitude and conduct over the past decade. Commenting on the change, IVM director Ruud Coolen van Brakel stated: 'Although there are still some problem areas, overall the industry has become more mature and more responsible’. </blockquote> However, later in the announcement the implication was stronger that this lack of funding may have resulted from how the program challenged the powers that be, perhaps those who were personally profiting the most from the status quo: <blockquote>The impact of Healthy Skepticism’s initiatives has not been unequivocally positive. IVM met with considerable resistance, which at times even became personal, and, because of its critical attitude, often became the target of aggressive attacks that also compromised its funders, the Ministry of Health, Education and Sport and the Healthcare Inspectorate.</blockquote> Summary We noted most recently (<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/12/corruption-kills-so-why-is-health-care.html">here</a>, December, 2011) most of the organizations one might have expected would have provided some response to health care corruption instead have largely treated it as at best a nuisance. Specifically, there is almost no teaching or research on corruption in health care academics (including medical and public health schools, and programs in health care research and policy.)  There is almost no mention of corruption by health care professional associations.  There are almost no initiatives to fight corruption on the part of health care charities and donors.  There is almost no interest in corruption among patient advocacy organizations.  (See previous discussion <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/02/after-publicity-about-losses-from.html">here</a>.) Furthermore, I also <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/11/will-freeze-of-global-fund-finally-put.html">postulated</a> that at least in the US context, this lack of interest in corruption may partially be explained by these organizations' institutional conflicts of interest and the individual conflicts of interest affecting their leaders. It may be further explained by the exposure of some leaders to the irresponsible, if not amoral culture that now currently pervades finance, which may have in turn been one cause of the great recession, or global financial collapse. The ICHRP and the Dutch Healthy Skepticism program seemed to be happy exceptions.  However, both of them depended on outside government or non-profit organizations for funding.  In both cases, these outside funders seem to have lost enthusiasm, maybe for reasons discussed above. At least the <a href="http://www.ichrp.org/">ICHRP archives</a> remain available, and <a href="http://www.gezondescepsis.nl/about-us.html">Dutch Healthy Skepticism</a> may be able to make some useful contribution outside the Netherlands. There is increasing <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/12/corruption-kills-so-why-is-health-care.html">evidence</a> that health care corruption may end up killing people.   I still hope that the courage of those who have tried to increase awareness of health care corruption, the conflicts of interest that can increase its likelihood, and surrounding phenomena, will not be in vain.  I still hope that some academic health care institutions, professional societies, health care charities and donors, and patient advocacy groups will gain enough fortitude to stand up for accountability, integrity, transparency, and honesty in health care.

Two Steps Back: International Council on Human Rights Policy Closes, Dutch Healthy Skepticism Ends Domestic Focus

We have noted the paucity of organized efforts to combat health care corruption and related phenomena. What efforts exist tend to focus on...

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The First State's Deadest (Deadliest?) Duck - Is This ED EHR Harming or Killing Anyone in NSW?

Nobody seems to be asking this simple question: Is This ED EHR harming or killing anyone in NSW? It cannot be "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/01/another-our-crappy-computers-screwed-up.html">not compromising patient care</a>" on first principles. This type of practical and ethical question seems to never get asked, while what appears to be a tit-for-tat political kerfuffle goes on. This is due in part to the baffling special accommodations afforded worldwide towards an extremely profitable but potentially extremely dangerous medical device, as well as due to the issues I described in my post about reckless technophilia and the accompanying disregard for rights of others <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/02/health-it-ddulites-and-disregard-for.html">here</a>. <h2 style="font-weight: normal;"></h2><blockquote><h2 style="font-weight: bold;">The Register</h2><h2 style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/12/firstnet_flops_again/">NSW government accused of dodgy software cover-up</a></h2> FirstNet: the First State's deadest duck [or "deadliest duck?" - ed.] By <a href="http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2012/02/12/firstnet_flops_again/" title="Send email to the author">Richard Chirgwin</a> Posted in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/business/">Business</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/2012/02/12/" title="More stories published on this date">12th February 2012 22:00 GMT</a> <div id="body"> The buggy FirstNet emergency department software has become the subject of a political argument in NSW. [What about a clinical and ethical argument? - ed.] In one of those paradoxes of democracy, an opposition which, in government, was responsible for a now-despised implementation is now using the IT project as a stick to beat a government which was in opposition when the system was chosen. Last week, the Sydney Morning Herald obtained a report into the system by Deloitte, under a freedom of information request. It <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/hospital-computer-system-found-lacking-20120210-1so7j.html">says</a> [1] the Deloitte report criticises FirstNet because it is: - Is chronically under-funded; - Produces inadequate records; - Was unreliable in delivering messages, and did not provide alerts when messages failed to reach their destination; and - Demanded excessive amounts of screen time from clinicians. [But is it harming or killing anyone? Are those statistics being collected robustly and scientifically, or are self-serving statements by hospital executives that "care was never compromised, and nobody was injured" simply being taken at face value? Further, the obvious increased risk of harm due to deficient IT currently in operation is being cavalierly ignored. This is alien to medicine, and could cause career termination or land people in jail in fields such as aviation if planes with known potentially-dangerous avionics software or other defects are kept flying - ed.]In spite of its inadequacies, the Deloitte report seen by the SMH said the $AU100-plus million Cerner FirstNet system is too entrenched to abandon. [I'm quite sure dead or injured patents would not appreciate that explanation - ed.] Over the weekend, opposition health spokesperson Dr Andrew McDonald issued a statement accusing NSW health minister Jillian Skinner of covering up the report since August 2011. However, other published studies into FirstNet, such as a detailed investigation by Sydney University e-health expert Professor Jon Patrick <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/%7Ehitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146">here</a> [2], identify problems similar to those apparently cited by Deloitte. This study was undertaken to investigate issues with FirstNet outlined in November 2008 in a special commission of review, conducted by Peter Garling, While noting that FirstNet represented an improvement on some aspects of its predecessor, Garling said the system attracted complaints that it was unfriendly to users, that the vendor and Health Department did not respond to complaints about the software, and that emergency department patients were being held in triage for excessive times, while clinical staff fought with the software. [What sane patient would want such a system used in their care? - ed.] Deloitte, on the other hand, was far less critical of FirstNet in 2008, when in a <a href="http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/resources/news/pdf/triage-bench-rev.pdf">review</a> [3] of triage benchmarks it managed to turn up a downtime issue, difficulty in uploading triage data to the Health Department, and the identification of the wrong doctor or nurse with a patient’s records. </div> <div id="pf-links"> <h3>Links</h3> <ol><li><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/hospital-computer-system-found-lacking-20120210-1so7j.html">http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/hospital-computer-system-found-lacking-20120210-1so7j.html</a></li><li><a href="http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/%7Ehitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146">http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/it/~hitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146</a></li><li><a href="http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/resources/news/pdf/triage-bench-rev.pdf">http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/resources/news/pdf/triage-bench-rev.pdf</a></li></ol></div></blockquote> Stunning. On the argument that "the older system was worse", or the corollary argument that "paper harms and kills too", I suggest anyone who proffers that argument should realize <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib">VIOXX (refoxicib)</a> helped far more people than it harmed in reducing pain while sparing them from GI side effects compared to "older" drugs. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4054991">Over 84 million people</a> were prescribed rofecoxib at some time and only mere thousands, or tens of thousands, are presumed to have been injured or died. Therefore, following their own illogic and ethical (dis)orientation, they should put all their family members on the drug - especially the elderly with cardiovascular disease - to benefit from pain relief and VIOXX's other miraculous effect, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060830215121.htm">suppression of colonic polyps</a>. Surely those benefits outweigh the risks, and therefore it is ethical to do so, no? Of course not. Health IT, as I've written in many posts on this blog, has a magnitude of harms that is admittedly unknown. Health IT needs significant further study and improvement, certainly before national rollouts, and before decisions are made that particular systems are "too entrenched to abandon." -- SS

The First State's Deadest (Deadliest?) Duck - Is This ED EHR Harming or Killing Anyone in NSW?

Nobody seems to be asking this simple question: Is This ED EHR harming or killing anyone in NSW? It cannot be " not compromising patien...

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Health IT Ddulites and Disregard for the Rights of Others

At my Feb. 8, 2012 post "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2012/02/health-it-ddulites-and-irrational.html">Health IT: Ddulites and Irrational Exuberance</a> " I defined a "Ddulite" (Luddite with the first four characters reversed) as the opposite of a Luddite, specifically: <blockquote>Hyper-enthusiastic technophiles who either deliberately ignore or are blinded to technology's downsides, ethical issues, and repeated local and mass failures. </blockquote> An astute reader points out that "opposite" may be an incomplete description, as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite">Luddites</a>: <blockquote>"were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanized looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life. The movement was named after General Ned Ludd or King Ludd, a mythical figure who, like Robin Hood, was reputed to live in Sherwood Forest."</blockquote> In other words, they were merely trying to save their jobs, and their actions did not cause life-threatening adverse events, such as death by freezing due to lack of warm garments. Ddulites, on the other hand, ignore the downsides (patient harms) of health IT. This is despite being already aware of, or informed of patient harms, even by reputable sources such as <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/08/smoking-gun-internal-fda-memorandum-of.html">FDA</a> (Internal FDA memo on H-IT risks), <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2008/12/joint-commission-sentinel-events-alert.html">The Joint Commission</a> (Sentinel Events Alert on health IT), the <a href="http://www.isb.nhs.uk/documents/isb-0160/dscn-18-2009/0160182009specification.pdf">NHS</a> (Examples of potential harm presented by health software - Annex A starting at p. 38), and the <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/12/ecri-healthcare-it-in-top-ten-health.html">ECRI Institute</a> (Top ten healthcare technology risks), to name just a <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/02/updated-reading-list-on-health-it.html">few</a>. In fact, the hyper-enthusiastic health IT technophiles will go out of their way to incorrectly dismiss risk management-valuable case reports as "anecdotes" not worthy of consideration (see "Anecdotes and medicine" essay <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/08/from-senior-clinician-down-under.html">at this link</a>). They will also make unsubstantiated, often hysterical-sounding claims that health IT systems are necessary to, or simply will "transform" (into what, exactly, is usually left a mystery) or even "revolutionize" medicine (whatever that means). This is despite the fact that many of this mindset are medical and/or Medical Informatics professionals who know better. They also ignore the draining waste of resources of failed or ineffectual IT ("<a href="http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/" target="_blank">bad health IT</a>"), potentially depriving patients of the best healthcare possible. Thus, as the reader pointed out, there could be an element of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy">psychopathy</a> or, at best,<a href="http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/conduct-in-reckless-disregard/"></a> reckless disregard for rights of others in their thinking. <blockquote><a href="http://law.yourdictionary.com/reckless-disregard">Reckless disregard</a>: An act of proceeding to do something with a conscious awareness of danger, while ignoring any potential consequences of so doing. Reckless disregard, while not necessarily suggesting an intent to cause harm, is a harsher condition than ordinary negligence.</blockquote> In my opinion, at a time of mass funding and pressure for rapid rollout of health IT in its present state of experimental development, this is not an observation that should be casually dismissed. -- SS

Health IT Ddulites and Disregard for the Rights of Others

At my Feb. 8, 2012 post " Health IT: Ddulites and Irrational Exuberance " I defined a "Ddulite" (Luddite with the first...

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A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle - at Non-Profit Health Insurers

It is time to drag out that well-worn phrase,...  sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up.  Recently, the New York Post <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nonprofit_execs_healthy_wealthy_UhdbNKvMXTqbBIhLjrZ4yO">reported</a> about executive compensation at some non-profit health maintenance organizations/ health insurance companies in New York.  To wit, FidelisCare <blockquote>At one Catholic-run health insurer for the needy, charity starts in the executive suite. Mark Lane, the CEO of the Fidelis Care/New York State Catholic Health Plan, receives a $1.1 million salary plus another $864,000 in retirement pension and other benefits, The Post has learned. His total compensation comes to nearly $2 million. Fidelis is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit HMO serving 750,000 patients throughout the city and state who mostly qualify for Medicaid, the public insurance program for the needy. That means nearly all of Fidelis’ revenues come from taxpayers. Meanwhile Fidelis’ executive vice president and chief operating officer, the Rev. Patrick Frawley, an ordained Catholic priest, is paid $587,249. Frawley received more than $900,000 in other retirement and deferred benefits — raising his total compensation to $1.54 million, according to IRS filings. That’s a lot of pennies from heaven. 'It’s shocking to me,' said a source familiar with Catholic health charities.</blockquote>Amazingly, the justification that was trotted out in this case was just of the "our CEO is brilliant" variety, but in this case, provided by a Bishop: <blockquote>Fidelis defended the salaries of its top officers, who oversee a $3 billion operation. Bishop Joseph Sullivan, a member of Fidelis’ board of trustees who formerly served as chairman, called the compensation 'generous but fair.' He said the goal is for salaries to be at the '75th percentile' of rivals. “Our ability to continue to grow is based on the quality of leadership. You get what you pay for. Lane and Father Frawley are worth every penny,” Sullivan said. Fidelis also issued a statement explaining that Frawley, after serving in pastoral roles for 25 years, was granted release from his priestly assignment to pursue a career in health care.</blockquote> So much for a vow of poverty, even at a non-profit providing health care mainly to the poor. EmblemHealth On the other hand, executives of secular, but still non-profit health insurers do even better, <blockquote>Anthony Watson, CEO of EmblemHealth, gets a compensation package of $8.5 million — about half in salary and bonuses and the rest in retirement and deferred benefits, according to IRS filings. Two other EmblemHealth executives also snagged multimillion-dollar compensation packages.</blockquote>Summary We have <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/10/peer-benchmarking-lake-wobegone-effect.html">noted before </a>how the "peer benchmarking process," setting executive (but not necessarily other) compensation based on a comparison with compensation at other, often highly selected organizations, coupled with the "Lake Wobegone Effect," the belief that one's own executives are always above average, will lead to inexorable rises in executive pay, regardless of performance, or whatever else is going on in the world. The Bishop's assertion that Fidelis' executive compensation should be at the seventy-fifth percentile, because of the "quality of leadership," not further described, is a perfect example of these phenomena. It is striking to see these phenomena at a non-profit organization whose <a href="http://www.fideliscare.org/aboutus/index.aspx">mission</a> is: <blockquote>to ensure that every resident, regardless of income, age, religion, gender, or ethnic background, has access to quality health care, provided with dignity and respect.</blockquote> So, ad infinitum, I repeat.... health care organizations need leaders that uphold the core values of health care, and focus on and are accountable for the mission, not on secondary responsibilities that conflict with these values and their mission, and not on self-enrichment. Leaders ought to be rewarded reasonably, but not lavishly, for doing what ultimately improves patient care, or when applicable, good education and good research. On the other hand, those who authorize, direct and implement bad behavior ought to suffer negative consequences sufficient to deter future bad behavior. If we do not fix the severe problems affecting the leadership and governance of health care, and do not increase accountability, integrity and transparency of health care leadership and governance, we will be as much to blame as the leaders when the system collapses.

A Camel Through the Eye of a Needle - at Non-Profit Health Insurers

It is time to drag out that well-worn phrase,... sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up. Recently, the New York Post reported about...

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