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PEARLY GAIT. Many of you know that Healthcare Purchasing News turned 30 this year (the same year I turned 40 last month). To highlight the achievement HPN has shown you heritage covers, high-octane headlines, historical trivia and hot tips, not to mention Fred Crans’ homespun Baseline observations. Since last November, we’ve given you the opportunity to help us with our most ambitious anniversary project yet: Identifying the most influential professionals in the industry, most significant news events, biggest threats that actually happened and never happened, hottest fads, most innovative clinical procedures and products, most customer-friendly vendors, most intriguing business deals and biggest business blunders. The voting booth remains open for the rest of the month so be sure to give us your valuable insights at www.hpnonline.com/HPNsider/HPNsider.html. We’ll start unveiling the choices with the July 2007 edition of HPN and for the remainder of the year. We close out 2007 with a heart-tugger and a shocker. In the December edition, we’d like to highlight the most inspiring professionals in the industry. Yes, some may also make HPN’s most influential list featured in July, but you don’t have to be influential to be inspirational. Who would you choose for that list? Tell me who and why at rickdanabarlow@hpnonline.com. Finally, we’ll forecast what an HPN cover may look like 30 years from now. HPN in 2037. If that’s not a shocker, knowing that paper still exists then should be.

PAPER ENABLERS. One Northeastern company affixes passive RFID tags on cartons of paper for document archiving and for electronic data archiving. Could we safely call this "middleware" along the way to a paper-free environment?

BITTER PILL. When Tyco Healthcare finally spins off from the albatross that is its current parent company it will adopt a new name: Covidien. Yes, it sounds like a drug featured in one of those meant-to-be-inspiring-but-kinda-kooky-in-a-1950s-view-of-the-future sort of way. But it’s about time that such a respectable organization escapes from the shadow of its owner today that was tarnished by the efforts of former chief L. Dennis Kozlowski.

CHOCO PLASMIC. As a blessing to chocoholics and dementia sufferers everywhere, a study found that cocoa increases blood flow to the brain as people age, as well as helps regulate blood pressure. Unfortunately for certain pharmaceutical companies, this climactic revelation stymies any plans for chocolate-flavored erectile dysfunction-preventing drugs.

THUMBS UP. Researchers claim that the latest round of video game systems – those new high-priced interactive ones that force you to get up off the couch or floor and dance around –are healthier for you. Interactive communication with loved ones, colleagues and co-workers, however, didn’t make the cut. No doubt it’s a seedling for one of those brilliant wellness campaigns by managed care companies.

CAPITAL PAINS. The Institute of Medicine’s report, "Rewarding Provider Performance: Aligning Incentives in Medicare," raps the current Medicare payment system, which is based on charging fees for services rendered. While that creates incentives for high volume it doesn’t offer much to promote higher quality. So the IOM recommends a "pay for performance" system as a solution. Here’s a better one. Strip all government workers – from the White House to Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court – from their cushy, unnecessarily generous taxpayer-funded federal healthcare plans and switch them to Medicare for four mandatory years. Watch how fast the healthcare system changes by the next election.

BYTE ME. The Government Accountability Office (and the name alone sparks riotous guffaws) reported that it found 47 weaknesses in the computer system that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses to send and receive bills and communicate with providers. In an unrelated story, CMS has noted a spike in the number of claims for colonoscopies filed by hundreds of people who’s only apparent link is their GAO employment.

BONE CHILLER. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a "telepathic" chiropractor in Ohio was forced to surrender his license. Wonder if he saw that one coming?