I am working on a huge medical project developing a new CCHIT 2009 approved electronic medical records system (EMR/EHR).  We have a number of people on my team all of which are very competent and talented .NET programmers.  We have so far designed a very robust system framework for the new software.

To put this in context, we are re-developing an existing product that is CCHIT 2006 approved.  It was developed several years ago and has become outdated and difficult to support.  It is also in an unsupported language.  So we are able to do a ground-up re-development.

On the whole things are going well.  And then there is EDI…

This blog is to vent my frustrations and pain on developing to the medical community.  Unlike the rest of the world the players don’t want any changes.  They actively make it difficult to interface and communicate. They charge excessive fees for no apparent reason and generally are uncooperative.

If you were buying an expensive new car you most likely would have certain expectations about the sales process and about the product.  You might want to read product specifications and you might want to talk to the service department.  You certainly would want to take a test drive.  We call that “kicking the tires”.  Well in the medical world (at least software) it is more like the “one armed bandit” (slot machine)… drop a coin in and you get to play – otherwise you get to watch.

Where else does a developer have to pay the API company and then pay to implement, and then pay to sell the product and then pay a license fee to distribute the product and then on top of all that give your customer to the API company.  NO FREAKING WONDER the medical system is screwed!!

Today a company asked me to pay them $30 thousand US dollars for me to develop and implement (and let’s not forget maintain) our own software to make calls to their API (which is a terrible kluge) that has practically no documentation.  Yeah, sign me up!

Infragistics – I still hate your stuff, but the medical boys can teach you about bad code and worse documentation.

I plan to write about my experiences here.  We (the company) decided that we will be using Emdeon (somehow connected to WebMD.com) as our “partner” for EDI in our e-prescribing and lab order processing.  These guys are the cheapest.  Their API is lame and their documentation is nothing short of non-existent and what there is is full of incomplete statements and downright wrong.  Some of it could be considered English though, probably written in India.

Wish me luck.

‘til next time.

Shelley and I had seats to the left of the stage at just above the stage level - actually they were great seats.  To be in the civic center the sound quality was great.  But the techno-light show was awesome!  This was well done.  As a computer and techno fan I was totally impressed.  They have some very talented technologist that back up a very powerful group of equally talented musicians.

We have seen Blue Man Group and now Trans-Siberian Orchestra this year. Tomorrow we will see the Mannheim SteamRoller Christmas show at Universal Theme Park in Orlando.  While there we will be able to also catch the Blues Brothers!

I don't do movies.  But a good concert or an airshow - now you are talking!

We were hit by TS Fay like a lot of people.  It had been raining for several weeks leading up to the TS as normal summer rains.  In our area we were no longer in a drought.  The week that Fay hit we had gotten about six inches of rain prior.  So when Fay did get to us there simply was no place for the water to go.  The ground was saturated, our creeks were already running strong.

It was simply incredable the amount of water we got.  It kept coming up until our creeks could hold no more then it flooded.

We were very fortunate.  We really lost nothing but some sleep.  We had taken precautions and we stayed overnight with some friends.  I documented the storm on video which is on this site.

It has been several weeks, Ike has hit Texas and even that is somewhat back to normal (except for all those who lost their homes and businesses.)  We are still cleaning up our little patch of earth thankful that we have it.  Don't take anything for granted!

See the Video here...

I once thought that the media had only recently become polluted and corrupt.  Now I know that it is a long standing condition...

"If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth."
Chester A. Arthur, US President 1881-1885

I won TICKETS!

Shelley and I got backstage passes to meet the Blue Man Group before the show.  They were very friendly, willing to talk about many aspects of being in the Blue Man Group.  Just nice guys working very hard.

There naturally was the normal snafu stuff happening, like being given the wrong seating tickets.  We were to be right down front but since we had the wrong tickets the Civic Center staff had to work it out.  The unfortunate couple who had our tickets had to give up the front row seats, which they did without any complaint.  I didn't meet them but thank you for being good sports.

The warm up act Mike Relm was awesome.  If you have never seen or been to a Blue Man Group concert it is very much geared to audience participation.  It has elements of comedy and lots of ROCK music.  You must be an active part of the show.  If you do you will have a great time.

I went to the show to experience it.  I allowed myself to be engaged and to yell, wave, jump and act totally of character.  I had a great time!  The music was fantastic.  The band was excellent. The energy level started high and got higher.  For ninety minutes the Blue Men worked the crowd and we loved it.  The band and the Blue Men expended more energy, I mean downright physical endurance kind of energy, in the ninety minutes than I do in a week.  If you attend the Blue Man Group concert and don't have fun, it is your own fault!

The reason we go to something like this is to be entertained, to participate.  Like a ball game, we go there to shout and have fun.  I have been to concerts that were simply dead, The Blue Man Group concert is anything but dead.  Its hot, its loud, its engaging, and its just plain fun.

After the show we went to the Blue Man reception where we got to just hang with the band and the Blue Men for about an hour. Great stuff.

OH! I didn't mention.  I got to go up on stag and introduce the band!  I had a BLAST!  Thank you Blue Man Group for giving me a wonderful evening of rock music, and clean fun. (more pictures in the gallery)

After nearly nine years of CITY living... it is back to the country for me!  Yep, I am an old farm boy.  I might work with computers and do engineering kind of stuff.  But I can run a "grubbin-hoe" ( a manually operated digging device similar to an ax designed for digging a trench).

I may be a professional geek but I love to run a tractor.  I move files around for money and spend it on MAN-STUFF.  I don't plant flowers! I do push down trees.

Three Creeks Plantation is a real find, 83 acres with three running creeks a 20 acre meadow with 60 acres natural mature hardwood forest.  It is loaded with wildlife and surrounded by 10 thousand acres of managed forest.

If I were to drop you in the middle of the place you would think that you were in the foothills of north Georgia or North Carolina.  I feel like I am on vacation all the time.