Randomize

As a systems architect in a non-medical but equally complicated field, I’ve been incredulous about Obama’s plan for a “paperless” healthcare system. I agree there’s a huge *need* for such a change, but throwing $20 billion at this without a cohesive, common, open data model would be a complete waste of money.

Turns out I’m not alone in my opinion, and this guy knows a lot more about the problem than I do–he almost died from it:

http://www.syleum.com/2009/03/17/healthcare-data-model/

So please, Mr. President, before we just hand out tax dollars to the IBMs and SAPs and ESSs of the world so they can create a whole new Babylon of useless, closed tools, let’s spend some serious money coming up with an actual specification. There’s no such thing as “easy” data integration.