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...And the Closer You Get....The Murkier It Gets
- The economists are right—public goods problems are real
- Physicians aren't clambering for this
- They want some business functions—like document transfer and lab results—but not pounding the table for shared patient information
- Inter-operability isn't as hard as people say it is.......it's much worse
- Highly variable degree of sophistication among even the best vendors
- Just because they told the CCHIT they can do something doesn't mean that they've done it before, or that it won't require a large amount of $$$ development, or that they're willing to do it
- No one has really done this before, regardless of what they or their references told you
- Capacity constraints of health care organizations (both hospitals and physician offices) and vendors, and coordination requirements among the many players, is an enormous challenge
- Everyone's not ready when you are.....and vice versa
- Everyone's not ready to work on the same weekends that you need them to
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