by Frank Fortner
Recently, there has been a growing trend of concern expressed by some sites (particularly MAGIC sites) about the possible migration to the 6.x platform. Some of this has been shared on the MEDITECH L-list while other concerns have come up in private conversations with various IT leaders. I’ve spoken with many existing MEDITECH customers who are currently on the 6.x waiting list, but also many who are not.
Several of the folks who are not on the 6.x waiting list are currently going through an HIS selection process, and several have already chosen a non-MEDITECH HIS. Considering Iatric Systems has contracted with roughly 50% of all MEDITECH sites and I’ve been with Iatric Systems for 15 years, it shouldn’t be taken lightly when I say I’ve never heard of so many sites moving to Siemens, McKesson, Cerner, Epic or Eclipsys. Then again, there has never been a time in healthcare IT like we’re experiencing today where user adoption is paramount and every system is under the microscope of Meaningful Use.
To MEDITECH’s credit, there are also a healthy number of sites I’ve spoken with who are currently on MAGIC (or 5.x Client/Server) and have no plans to move to 6.x or any other HIS at this time. After all, both the MAGIC and Client/Server 5.6.4 versions will be certified to meet meaningful use requirements, so (apart from an increase in user adoption via a better looking UI) there is no real healthcare mandate to make the jump to 6.x today. There is also the cost of a new platform as well as previous IT investments to consider. Some hospitals are in no hurry to abandon all the time and capital they’ve invested in customizing their current system to the needs of the organization. Reports, dictionaries, menus, user access, rules, attributes, macros, custom programming and 3rd party applications have all contributed to the tailor-fitted system they have in place today. Perhaps in these cases, the new benefits aren’t enough to outweigh the loss of investment in current technology. Clearly, there is no one size fits all answer to this question. What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments on this topic.
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1 Tweets that mention Is 6.x For Everyone? -- Topsy.com // Apr 15, 2010 at 11:42 am
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