On Wednesday 22 September 2004 09:15, Mary Hawking wrote:
> Does anyone know where we're going?
No.
> iSoft is talking about targeting the US, China and Europe with their
> product, Lorenzo.
>
> Http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=859
>
> Question - are the health care systems sufficiently similar to be
> squeezed into the same software?
Hmm. The Open Source in healthcare movement tends to the view that many parts
of the problem are similar wherever one is, and that those that are said to
be different perhaps should not be.
Clearly such things as prescription forms are different, but since sensible
medical automation will handle the objects that make up a prescription rather
than the whole thing, rearranging them on paper, even weird shaped paper of
inconvenient thickness, is likely to be a configuration task rather than new
programming.
There is an element in administration that work quite hard to avoid electornic
systems being comprehensive - eg the GP claims software omitted one of the
types of temporary residence thus requiring that whoever was running the show
"had" to keep on all the systems and some of the headcount for handling that
as well as the electronic claims...
So they will be very pleased if some bits don't fit.
The suppliers will be pleased if they can sell something as "COTS" and then be
paid to modify it for each region, each time things are changed - the
disparity between multiple applications and single cores can generate large
amounts of profit margin and excuses.
> The new Care Record Board is going to concentrate on Communication - and
> "Cayton confirmed the communication would not be about the form that the
> electronic systems would take. "That has been decided. It's about how
> we use it." "
It has not of course been decided in any form that informaticians would
understand as the "form" as far as I can see. Perhaps he means the badge on
the front has been selected, and where to park the server.
> What is he going to communicate? Especially as he has removed medical
> and nursing bodies from automatic representation on the Board.
Whatever he needs to manage us I suppose. There is less and less of
healthcare in this set of systems, and less of medicine in the healthcare
bits.
> The *pace* of change is breathtaking - but anyone any clues on the
> direction or destination? ;-<<
I very much doubt it.
--
Adrian Midgley Open Source software is better
GP, Exeter http://www.defoam.net/
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