Reaping The Rewards

They say that history is written by the winners, and they can get rewarded for it, as well:

Consider the case of Aurora Health Care, a Wisconsin organization, like Epic. Judy Murphy, formerly a vice president of information services at Aurora, now the deputy national coordinator for programs and policy at HHS’s Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT—and like Faulkner, a member of the Health IT Policy Committee—also wanted to delay the implementation of Stage 2 criteria. Aurora was working to attest to Stage 1 criteria with another vendor, but providers must use certified electronic health records (EHR) technology for a full year before applying for Stage 2 stimulus fund payments. Curiously enough, in October of 2010, Aurora announced that it was going to switch to Epic as a vendor, but that the switch would take place over a three-year period, at least.

If it takes three years from Aurora’s announcement that it will switch to Epic, then the switch won’t be completed until 2013. Once the switch takes place, Aurora will have Epic as a vendor for one year until 2014, when the delayed implementation of Stage 2 criteria is now supposed to occur . . . at Faulkner’s recommendation. This means that Aurora will qualify for stimulus fund payments, while Epic gets to have a new customer. Both companies get rich.

Of course, according to the Obama administration, this would be an economic success story...