Redbox recently emailed me to tell me about a hot new release called "Drive Angry" on DVD and Blu-Ray. It's a Nicholas Cage movie I somehow missed, but check out this summary:
An undead felon breaks out of hell to avenge his murdered daughter and rescue her kidnapped baby from a band of cult-worshipping savages. Joined by tough-as-nails Piper, the two set off on a rampage of redemption, all while being pursued by an enigmatic killer who has been sent by the Devil to retrieve Milton and deliver him back to hell
This is one of the most ludicrous premises I've ever read. So I can't wait to see this movie. I'll know going in it's horrible, and I can rent it for a dollar. The dollar is the deciding factor. But I love the fact that someone funded this idea. It pleases me that capitalism is at work.
Someone went into what I imagine are highly fancy offices of movie makers, and said something to the effect of, "Hey, this one's got Nicholas Cage as an undead felon who breaks out of Hell. Of course he'll be pursued by an enigmatic undead killer." And in response a guy smoking a cigar with a pinky ring and shiny black shoes yanked out his checkbook and replied, "Let's get started! I've always wanted to make a flick about a rampage of redemption."
If someone's going to hand over money to people with ideas, good or bad, then the people with ideas will take it. People take the money and they always will. This is where we are now in healthcare technology, and if you're in the mood for reading a 32-page document on that, see PwC's recent paper on the healthcare industry entitled .
Everybody wants in. This by definition means there will be a higher percentage of bad ideas making their rounds. More bad ideas are here and there are more coming, and very few will pass the elusive acid test of being able to answer a simple question: do Ireally need this?
How long, for example, till there's an iPhone application to let you take a picture of a funny-looking mole on your arm and tell you if it needs to be seen by a specialist? Will the fear in your heart from an erroneous "uh oh" message back from that iPhone app be worth it when you could've already been to the dermatologist? Or to your patient medical home, which I like to call an internist? (Incidentally, if there's already an application for this, please don't hold it against an undead felon like me.)
I'm not prophetic, but a lot of bad ideas are coming soon to a facility near you.
The current Healthcare IT landscape reminds me of LinkedIn and its ever present recommendations: everything is recommended and spoken highly of. There's little objectivity, and few willing to say, wait a minute this product stinks. Or, Sorry but this cat cannot do that job. Where's the balance? Where's someone to say plainly, We don'tneedthat.
Probably 12 years ago, as part of a VC gathering I heard the Gomez in Gomez Advisors present the company's rankings of Internet stockbrokers, banks, mortgage lenders, and credit card issuers. I don't remember the criteria, only that it seemed oddly biased and after some audience questions, it turned out that Gomez also consulted with more than a few of the companies he was ranking, which smelled funny to a room full of CTO's and CIO's.
When he finally sat down, he looked over at a table near where I was sitting and loosened his tie and said, "Man, tough crowd." He didn't like the hot seat he found himself on, but he also didn't change anything in his approach because it made money. (Full disclosure - Gomez Advisors was bought by Compuware in 2009, and it has an array of products for web and mobile application management, including an EHR tool.)
Who's going to help make this tidal wave of interesting but unnecessary HIT products and services manageable? Who has time? And does anybody really care? After all, some things simply don't change, like the inescapable fact that Nicholas Cage makes plenty of awful movies, and will continue to.
The difference, it seems, is in the cost of admission.
NOTE: This piece originally appeared in the July 6, 2011 "Readers' Write" section of HIStalk.com. Visit it .