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Critics charge HIMSS-CCHIT connection 'too cozy'

March 06, 2009 | Neil Versel

Identity of online critics not known

So who exactly are these critics questioning the relationship between HIMSS and CCHIT?

The most accusatory comments spreading across the Internet have come from people whose online identities could not be verified, and that has HIMSS wondering if a disgruntled ex-employee might be involved. HIMSS has put lawyers on the case. “We believe there were certain things said that meet the four-point requirement for defamation in the state of Illinois,” says HIMSS Corporate Counsel Racquel Orenick.

HIMSS actually had the law firm of Jackson Lewis write to Chilmark Research health IT analyst John Moore to see if Moore would help identify the source of vitriolic comments posted on his blog. “It was merely a request,” Orenick says.

Moore refused. “This is not a legal issue, this is a PR issue,” he says. Although Moore believes the unidentified commenter goes “completely off the deep end,” he says the screed does contain some valid critiques. “The relationship (between HIMSS and CCHIT) is a little cozy. HIMSS is predominantly a vendor organization,” Moore says.

Others share this sentiment. Scot Silverstein, MD, a biomedical informatics instructor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Hayward Zwerling, MD, president of healthcare IT vendor ComChart Medical Software, North Chelmsford, Mass., also say that HIMSS and CCHIT might be a little too closely linked.

In a Feb. 27 post on the Health Care Renewal blog Silverstein argues that there should be a congressional investigation of the healthcare IT industry as a whole. Zwerling, whose product has not gone through CCHIT testing, accuses the commission of all sorts of conflicts of interest, including the fact that HIMSS CEO H. Stephen Lieber is on the CCHIT Board of Trustees.

“Obviously, we have a cordial relationship with them,” Orenick says of CCHIT, but says there are no “cozy” arrangements behind the scenes. Orenick invites the public to look up the organization’s IRS Form 990 tax return.

Orenick says HIMSS likely would not be saying more about comments that can’t easily be traced to a specific individual. “I frankly don’t think it needs any more attention than it’s gotten,” she says.

For his part, Moore would like a greater explanation. “It’s incumbent upon you, HIMSS, to tell us why this is wrong, but instead they send out lawyers,” he says.
 

 

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Reader Comments (2)Login to Post a Comment

pH 7.40 says:

April 03, 2009 | 7:10PM GMT

times three

Let's have three separate buy equal entities with overlapping purpose and members to ensure that any windfall would land on all three.

That way no one involved in either/or all three will be missed.

Really, is it seemingly necessary to have three organizations dictate what and who will use whatever?

Systems have been in place in numerous hospitals for more than a decade. These organizations have done zilch to streamline my work or documentation. Not to mention each being proprietary software and therefore none communicate with each other. And nor do any of the insurance companies want to give each other the time of day.

Is it too much to ask to have one system in place so I, my department, my office, my billing does not have to work inside a dozen or more software systems to all ultimately do the same task?

Or is there simply too much money to be made to entrust anyone to do this much needed task?

I can not imagine the amount of money already wasted on needless products, support, service and software, not to mention yearly license fees, for systems that do not work and do not communicate with one another.

We are not going to fix this problem using the same model and modalities that led us to this point in time.

You can not solve the problem using the same think/speak that got us here.

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scotsilv says:

March 10, 2009 | 8:41PM GMT

On conflict of interest and HIT industry validation

Regarding appearance of conflict of interest, I would like to add that medical technology tester The ECRI Institute has a robust approach. From their web page:

Conflict of Interest - The Integrity of Independence

"Remaining unbiased is difficult, if not impossible, when conflicts of interest are present [indeed - ed.] That is why we strictly enforce our conflict-of-interest rules and have carefully developed an environment that maximizes objectivity, productivity, and integrity of process. We accept no grants, gifts, finder’s fees, or consulting projects from, and our employees are not permitted to own stock shares in, medical device or pharmaceutical firms. To make sure that is the case, we examine each employee’s federal income tax return after it is filed. And, we accept no advertising revenues from any source."

This type of policy gives their reviews credibility both to physicians and to consumers skeptical of the healthcare industry.

As to an investigation of the HIT industry by Congress, we do not have reliable figures for the morbidity and mortality caused by health IT, have conflicting data on its benefits, and yet these devices are being relentlessly pushed onto the public without the public's consent. This is a patient's rights issue.

It is also troubling that pharma's clinical trials and other information systems are subject to federal validation and inspection, yet clinical IT used in patient care is not so regulated, even though such systems are more complex and have a more immediate and potentially irrevocable impact on patients.

There seems to be very little information sharing on HIT defects.

I wrote that due to these factors and other issues that "a congressional investigation of the HIT industry's development, marketing, talent management, contracting, QC, and information sharing practices (on bugs, UI problems and other defects) is warranted."

-- S. Silverstein

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