I really should be writing a lengthy post about a number of important subjects that have come up recently – meaningful use, closed standards, and so forth. Unfortunately I’ve just recovered from a week of fairly aggressive, although not pig related, respiratory illness and so instead I’m going to post a music video about Health IT interoperability. The payoff is at the end.
It’s somewhat amusing to note that I first met Ross on New Year’s Eve, 1999, which happened to be the day he proposed to his wife. We then completely avoided crossing each other’s paths until 2006, when I was at CMS and he was at Pfizer and representing the industry on the AHIC Consumer Empowerment workgroup. We’ve had the opportunity to do some (non-musical) together since, which has been quite a lot of fun.
But if you read this far, one more thing to think about – HITECH has a few billion dollars in stimulus for HIT adoption. It has vastly more in penalties. The math is not uninteresting, and I’m going to do some of it this weekend.
Oh god I think I was at that party too. I left my Aeon Flux DVDs there.
FJ and Will –
I’m catching up on the season finale of LOST online (TiVo muffed it somehow) and took a moment to look at where the Interoperetta had been posted while one of the “limited interruptions” was interrupting the show. LOST is, of course, all about destiny and time and – well, who the heck really knows. But it makes you think a lot about moments in life that were seminal.
Millennium Eve was, no doubt, one of those times for Kym and me. As soon as we walked in, FJ (whom I met for the first time that moment), let out a gasp when he saw Kym in here evening gown. That was a memory still locked in my brain, when many others have long since faded. It even made it into a Christmas poem I wrote for Kym, which I later posted to my blog. Reposted here. Not a thing to do with HIT, but everything in the world about why we should be spending our time getting healthcare right…
Thank you both for continuing to work for the cause…
Tuesday, December 26, 2000
In keeping with what is now a two-year Christmas tradition, I wrote Kym a poem, a la Dr. Seuss, that is an extension of one of Kym’s favorites, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Pretty much sums up the year we’ve had…
Oh, the year we have had! with its jostles and bumps
We’ve been high on the Rooftops! And down in the Dumps
Just when we thought that our future was clear
We’d turn ‘round a corner and Change would appear
With his old pal Uncertainty one step behind
All the This-Way-Then-That-Ways became quite a Grind!
Just writing a poem about this year’s events
Creates quite a story that’s rather intense!
We started the year with the Best New Year’s Yet
I popped the question and you said, “You Bet!”
We partied all night at a Y2K ball
And, according to F.J., your gown beat them all!
We moved you to Boston to start a new life
And prepare for the day we’d be Husband and Wife
But our hopes for the future were dashed when we learned
That your Hodgkin’s, so long in remission, returned
For two weeks we viewed your prognosis with terror
When finally we found that the test was in error!
A lesson emerged from that troubling event
Each day must be lived to its fullest extent
We made a decision on that very day
That we should get hitched without further delay!
A few short months later we flew to Hawai’i
And, witnessed by loved ones, were wed on Kaua’i
But wait! That’s not all that occurred on that day!
For that very same night we conceived Taylor Jay!
Talk about Changes! These DINKs ‘til their day’s end
Were suddenly thinking of Pampers and Playpens!
And Sippy-Cups! Strollers! Au Pairs and Papooses!
Barneys and Pokémons! Potters and Seusses!
Our image of just you and me quickly faded
We “Saabed” on that fateful day Cloe got traded
But no doubt, this all will be worth all the Fuss
The day we see Taylor’s eyes looking at us
There’s just not the room to depict all our plans
Of Start-Ups that didn’t and Möbius Bands
Of Legal Frustrations and Selling Sensations!
Of New Jobs and Old Saabs and Small Tribulations
And next year – Look Out! We’re just getting started!
We may move from Boston to places uncharted
But one thing remains – be there Change or whatever
My love for you grows every day we’re together
And one other thing remains Certain, my wife –
I still cherish the night you danced into my life
And last year’s poem…
Oh, the places We’ll go! With hopes flying high
We’ll soar through the air! Our limit, the sky!
Except when you fall and Deep Troubles brew
But when life is its darkest I’ll be there for you
And wouldn’t you know it? The opposite’s true!
When I’m in the Pickle you’ll bail me out too!
For life is just Grand! Despite the Rough Parts
And life’s even better when shared as Sweethearts
So here’s to the Journey! And our yet-revealed Fate
I’m honored to walk the unknown as your Mate
And as we go forward as Husband and Wife
I’ll cherish the night you danced into my life