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Open Source Could Have Saved Ontario Hundreds of Millions
Platinum Dragon writes "Ontario's auditor-general released a blistering report this week detailing how successive governments threw away a billion dollars developing an integrated electronic medical record system. This CBC article highlights an open source system developed at McMaster University that is already used by hundreds of doctors in Ontario. As one of the developers points out, 'we don't have very high-priced executives and consultants,' some of whom cost Ontario taxpayers $2,700 per day."
The McMaster University researchers claim their system could be rolled out for two percent of the billion-dollars-plus already spent on the project. The report itself (PDF) also makes note of the excessive consultation spending: "By 2008, the Ministry’s eHealth Program Branch had fewer than 30 full-time employees but was engaging more than 300 consultants, a number of whom held senior management positions."
My advice after interning for a consultant is to not hire consultants. Its no coincidence that Dilbert makes fun of them. Imagine someone who sits on their ass and schemes up things to specialize in, and takes projects they have no experience in (at least not enough that any employer would count as "experienced" when looking for people to hire). Imagine an individual whom picks high priced products just because they get more when they resell it with a 25 - 75% mark-up. Now imagine someone who is honest, and imagine how you could possibly tell the difference.
Oh yeah, and most of their business? From the government.
Same in Finland - you have a choice.
Just for the record - most of the employed people have medical care contracts on *private* docs, and that's where most of the population visit. Actually that's what I've always used here, so far :-) But knowing that if I need some surgery or lose my job, I won't die because I couldn't afford some 200 000USD operation or insurance company pissed me in the eye. And I don't have a damn thing against paying taxes for giving that opportunity for other people too.
I just don't understand why Americans are so much against public health care. It's a necessity in my eye. Just like libraries and education. Goverment should provide the essentials for living (education and health care). I couldn't sleep my nights if health care would be in hands of private companies only. Sick, twisted world image for me.
I didn't bother to read your sig, I was replying to your ignorant "private enterprise does everything better" comment using the expensive disaster that is US health care as an example. Maybe private enterprise can but it would have to do it a different way. All US health care is good for is making lawyers and insurance execs rich - it doesn't even do much for the doctors and far less for the patients. Find a US doctor and you'll find someone that makes several times the yearly average wage, blows that much on insurance, and then had to find an income after that.
I don't want government run health care because i just don't think most of these people should have a share of MY money. I got up this morning, i went to work. I dealt with crap all damn day. I came home and cooked dinner. I wasted time on slashdot and went to bed. Why do i have to pay for the people who cant do the same thing, or worse CHOOSE not to. They can call me selfish, i call it being responsible. my motivation for going to work every day is so i don't have to live like a leach on other people.
Even so, if something like OpenOffice is in the mix, I don't know if it's actually a worthy program. It is clunky, does weird things and crashes a little too often.
These debates are only silly because all your life you've been taxed WAY more than we are for your "Universal right". Roads here are all built by private companies (generally contracted through the govt) who bid for the project, public schools in America suck compared to private schools, the police in this country are in sad shape (perhaps a ramped up private security force WOULD indeed do better, perhaps again contracted by the govt).
And your healthcare is abysmal in comparison to ours. I have lots of friends and family in Canada. My friend's grandmother they just allowed to die of infection in a hospital, after shipping her around to 3 different hospitals because one after another didn't have facilities for her.
No offense, but you can keep your free healthcare, you just don't know what good healthcare really is.