Slashdot Mirror
Big HMO Jolted By Email, System Failures
JoanofAlaska writes "The Wall Street Journal is running a front page story about the internal mass e-mail that exposed the failing $4 billion dollar electronic medical record system at Kaiser Permanente, the biggest non-profit HMO in the country. When word of the system's meltdown quickly spread back in November, one reporter obtained a 722 page internal document that showed patient safety lapses as a result of the system's problems. Then in February, the Los Angeles Times had a front page story in which a systems analyst who worked on the project called it 'the worst [technology] project I have seen in my 25 years in the business.' They've created a website to try to rebuild confidence in the project, and they say their goal for system availability is 99.7% (they're currently at 99.2%)."
C'mon, it really can't be that bad, can it?
Oh, Epic Systems? No wonder. Dude, you're f****ed.
More horrors than you want to imagine.
They're just not trying hard enough
You actually have healthcare in the US ? I didn't realise that, the impression I got is that when you get ill in the States you have to go off to the market rather than a clinic or hospital like you do elsewhere. I guess once you get to market you can swap your cow or goat, or whatever, for advice from the wise women who live there ?
If only these guys had used Hyperion to manage their data, they wouldn't be having this issue. Hyperion can effortlessly manage up to 12 GIGABYTES of data, and all you have to do is partition it into 3 different pieces.
Hyperion: If it's good enough for Google, it's good enough for you.
Epic Systems-- selling $4b systems based on clunky, non-relational databases you've never heard of.
For the benefit of those of us who aren't Americans, why not say what an HMO is?
If only there was a way for someone to find information on the internet. Like a centralized tool or website that indexes other websites and allows people to search for it when they don't understand.
Or wait, even better - how about an encyclopedia like website that could contain vast amounts of knowledge.
Ah, that would be grand.
Ha! Witness the failure of American-style capitalism to produce REAL waste! Why, here in the UK our glorious NHS have just recently thrown away 12bn of public money on a computer system that has ZERO percent uptime -- because nobody could decide what it was for and nobody wanted it! Compare that to the paltry few billions your private enterprise was able to throw away!
And that's not all! The graft, corruption, bribery and crime surrounding the NHS system was such that Accenture *refused to work on it* -- that's right, Accenture turned down a paycheck because they didn't want to be associated with the way the project was being conducted! Let's see some privately-owned HMO reach that kind of level -- THEN maybe I'll admit that your 'Capitalism' has some advantages!
And you know what else you get wrong? Kaiser's failure, like that of Enron and WorldCom, is big news! In the glorious United Kingdom, this kind of thing barely makes it to the fringes of public awareness! Why, the NHS project actually KILLED a few struggling UK startup companies just to distract attention from the activities of the bigger contractors (i.e. iSOFT). Let's see Kaiser do that. Can it do that? THOUGHT NOT! Because that kind of thing requires a GOVERNMENT that can tax and borrow!
(sound of 'Rule Britannia' gradually swells in the background)
And THAT, my American chums, is why the NHS is the envy of the world, and why I am proud to pay 10% of my income toward it.
Although obviously I have private health cover as well in case I get sick. Which all comes in kind of expensive.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.