Much in the EHR news lately has been about Judith Faulkner and Epic's opposition to the proposed HHS interoperability rules (see: Epic may sue HHS over interoperability rules concerns, Judy Faulkner says). Almost 60 health system CEOs have stated that they are in agreement with Faulkner and Epic on this matter (see: Epic Leads Almost 60 Health Systems Against Interoperability Rule; ONC's Rucker calls out hospital leaders who signed Epic's opposition letter; Epic Founder Faulkner Gives Hospital Executives Exactly What They Want). Most EHR executives have stayed out of this dogfight but Jonathan Bush has had something to say about it (see: Jonathan Bush: Epic's opposition to HHS' interoperability rules is 'indisputably cynical'). Below is an excerpt from this article
Epic's recent campaign over privacy concerns against HHS' proposed interoperability rule is "indisputably cynical," said Jonathan Bush, executive chairman of Firefly Health....Mr. Bush emailed Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic, asking her to reconsider the company's stance on the proposed rules, according to the report....Over the past month, Epic has voiced opposition of the proposed rule due to privacy concerns relating to third-party use of patient data....In response to Epic's opposition of the rule, Mr. Bush argued that the EHR giant is instead protecting its own business, which would see the rise of new tech competitors when the rules are finalized. Relating to privacy concerns associated with the proposed rule, in an email to Politico, Mr. Bush wrote: "Consumers are NOT as dumb as you think they are." He said that with new data-sharing opportunities, patients can send their medical data to new tech services that can "aggregate data and recognize patterns in a way that health systems can't," according to the report
It's no secret that Faulkner has always opposed the idea of medical record interoperability. She exercises a near-monopoly on EHR installs in large, complex hospitals so suppressing interoperability protects this privileged position. In some hospital circles, Faulkner position has become somewhat of a joking matter (see: "Don't Tell Judy Faulkner," Cleveland Clinic CEO Cosgrove Cautions Audience). Here's a quote from my note in 2014:
I think that we have turned a major strategic corner. Dr. Toby Cosgrove CEO at Cleveland Clinic, has been reported as cautioning an audience not to "tell Judy Faulkner" that EHR interconnectivity will be happening across the country in three or four years....The reason that this comment is so important is that no healthcare CEO has ever been willing push back on Faulkner or Epic on this issue (or any issue, for that matter) in public.
Many hospital executives have always supported Faulker in this matter in order to suppress patients' ability to their records available in other hospitals. Here's a quote from my note nine years ago about the frequent hospital position on interoperability (see: Judith Faulkner, EMR Interoperability, and Washington IT Politics):
Hospital CEOs and CIOs have little interest or enthusiasm for multivendor interoperability, either within their hospitals or hospital systems or across the outside hospital systems that they compete with....CEOs don't want to encourage broad patient and clinical data portability because it gives the payers (insurance companies and the federal government) a strategic advantage during negotiations about reimbursement.
Faulkner replicated Steve Jobs business model. He made a proprietary, locked system that he guaranteed would work-- and consumers were willing to pay a huge price for his product. Healthcare providers were no different.
There is one notable difference however-- Jobs focused passionately on his product, and the free market rewarded his innovation. Judy was placed as chair of the EHR oversight/ interoperability committee because of her political contributions. At a time when government was meddling in private business, she leveraged corruption to sell her outdated/ obsolete product.
Ironically enough, her company has yet to be investigated for a monopoly
Posted by: Ivan Miller | February 12, 2020 at 11:33 PM