CNet needs to do a better job of screening some of its writers. The guy who wrote this mild attack on Wal-Mart's health care IT package has an obvious personal motivation for criticizing them, regardless of the technical merits:
This equates to a tremendous opportunity to change the nature of the health care business. If Sam's Club can package technology, functionality, and support at a cost that makes it simple for the average physician, then this can only be a good harbinger for the efficiency and reliability of patient records management.
Too bad Wal-Mart missed a brilliant opportunity to revolutionize the way IT services are acquired by small businesses. In this era of "on demand" pricing, charging an up-front license fee for this type of software seems almost archaic. It certainly creates a new capital expense requirement for the average medical clinic that may be a difficult pill to swallow in this economy.
A much better idea would be to offer subscription-based pricing, with perhaps some additional up-front fees for the PC, training, and installation. Or how about an entirely Internet-based solution with a secure connection between the host and a rich Internet application user interface? Best of all would be a solution delivered in a true service delivery platform, with complete end-to-end trust and performance features.
There are obvious advantages to having a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering for doctors, but at this point in the game, Wal-Mart's solution is the most practical. Baby steps before running a marathon. There are still a lot of unresolved legal issues which could come into play, and it remains to be seen how well a SaaS solution would be able to deal with all of the regulations, precedents, etc. that demand compliance. That doesn't even count the basic public relations problem of ensuring that every technically illiterate patient feels reasonably secure that their records are being protected by their doctor and his staff, something that would be nearly impossible to do if the doctor has to tell his patients that their records are stored in some far off location.
The single biggest threat that medical SaaS vendors will face will come from possessing so many records. While not as lucrative as credit card records, they will be a very tempting target, and unlike credit card numbers, once they're gone, they're gone for good into the hands of people who shouldn't have had them.
I agree that security will be a HUGE issue for these medical records. I fear that it won't be taken seriously enough. And I base that upon the fact that credit cards are routinely stolen despite the fact of their being money on the line. Not down the road, but immediately.
This IT need does at least bode well for System and Network Admins. YaY for me!