Year-end ‘What gives?’

Let’s pause for an intermission from our multipart series on Capitol Hill’s own “Monsters vs. Aliens” variant, “Feds vs. GPOs 2,” (you select who’s who) for some end-of-year satirical reflections to get us prepared for a brighter 2010. Positively thinking, we’ll be that much closer to looming-on-the-horizon deadlines for widespread adoption of supply chain data standards and electronic health record usage. Or maybe that’s just a false positive.

This is the time of the year when the healthcare industry should assess its performance on an anecdotal, subjective level as well as the number-crunching objective perspective. Simply ask yourself whether any of the following 12 observations are ironic, sardonic, moronic or paradoxical. You be the judge.

1.   With the economy in the tank and trying to eke out a feeble recovery, a number of hospitals have embarked on ambitious building sprees – not just additions and renovations but complete campus new construction.

2. Studies have shown that hospitals are keeping their capital investment cash close to the vest, postponing major equipment purchases until they’re certain the economy is back on track. Guess there will be quite a few empty rooms in all those fancy new buildings going up. Hey! As a shot across the bow to just-in-time and stockless distribution programs, can you say overpriced supply warehouse space?

3. Of course, if there’s ever a time to spend borrowed, leveraged and non-existent money on opulent new buildings it probably should be now before the feds pass healthcare (insurance) reform, which will dry up those wells pretty quick.

4. Pilots allegedly are distracted by laptop use and manage to overshoot an airport by 150 miles at 37,000 feet on the tail end of a flight. And this is the industry healthcare holds in high esteem for using simulation training to be prepared for anything and to minimize errors. Bottom line: No laptops in the surgical suites, kids. And so much for those studies showing video game playing increases a surgeon’s dexterity, etc.

5. The Obama Administration overstates the job creation statistics from the Great Stimulus Package. This is the same administration that believes it can improve the healthcare system with a nearly $900 billion investment over 10 years. Unfortunately, sprinkling the pixie dust of reality over the 2,000-page medical “magna charta” magically boosts the total to $1.2 trillion. Safety tip: Read the fine print.

6. HIBCC, the old warhorse, simmers in a battle-of-words that reached something of a boiling point at the recent UDI conference vs. GS1, the Euro-centric upstart getting all the trade media attention and trade show timeslots. Memo to the warhorse: Those data standards you promote will enable buyers to compare products more easily so those products will have to compete on their own merits. You would be wise to do the same and follow what you preach.

7. Whether UDI or UPN, pick both and U do well. As the software companies and standards evangelists grapple for influence, check out the vendor and provider communities as they watch the entertainment from the sidelines waiting for the other side to make the first move.

8. When you pull back the curtain and clear away the fog and smoke, what’s the real impediment to supply chain data standards adoption? Providers don’t want to pay for the technology but want to be able to compare product attributes – including price – at the touch of a button; vendors don’t want to pay for it either and don’t want providers being able to compare product attributes – including price – at the touch of a button. Some things never change. Unless the industry gets real there’s still room in the acronym wastebasket for the latest trendy initiatives.

9. Any federally mandated healthcare reform initiatives likely won’t start until 2014, the year of President Bush’s deadline for national EHR adoption and implementation. When push comes to shove, which program likely will happen first?