Last week before travelling to Chicago, Illinois to attend the HIMSS 2009 Conference I reached out to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and a former supervisor, of a company that I previously worked for to meet, catch up, and to share some industry visions and ideas. His response to my invitation was that he was on a business trip in China and that this was one of the few times he would not attend the yearly conference. The company where he performs as a CTO did indeed attend and exhibited their new products and solutions. Anyways, his answer came to no surprise to me because I was aware that they were investing money and efforts in China since many months ago.
I have always admired the CTO of this company. He had arrived to the US from China many years ago with a few quarters in his pocket and he has had outstanding success. I try to compare my achievements to his, but I arrived to this country with 10 dollars and 2 teenagers 4 years ago. I started with much more capital so I guess he wins in terms of least investment, risk, and sacrifice. What I admire most of him is his vision.
Microsoft has also set up camp in Beijing specifically dedicated to the Microsoft Amalga line of products in the Asian market. They already have a slew of early adopters using their software; please visit http://www.microsoft.com/amalga/customers/bysegment.mspx for more information. Most of them, if not all, are using the Microsoft Amalga HIS (Health Information System). In the US most early adopters are using the Amalga UIS (Unified Intelligence System). Microsoft is a visionary organization.
All of these facts indicate that there is "something" going on in the Asian part of the world in healthcare information technology. This "something" is very attractive to companies in the healthcare technology domain in the US. This "something" is $120 billion dollars that are being invested in healthcare in China. This is quite some stimulus to crank the gears of the world economy. A lot of that money will also end up in healthcare IT and albeit China has a large supply of technologically prepared individuals it will require much more to meet demand. The US and China have been working constantly and diligently on many software projects for many years now so I can assume that this trend will continue and grow.
Meanwhile, here in the US, our industry leaders (e.g. healthcare software moguls, hospitals, IDNs (Integrated Delivery Networks), etc.), have been laying off people, cutting back on expenses, and slowing and trimming down, due to an uncertain economic future. These leaders are doing just that, creating the uncertain future. When President Obama mentioned the stimulus package it was time to stand up, shake the dust off, and get back to work. But no, these leaders have decided to wait until the terms are clearer and they are certain where the money is going to be spent.
Well, from what I understand and what I have always listened to from other industry experts, is that IT resources belong to a global pool. Locally, we have a scarcity of them for our own needs, even with this perceived crisis it's still difficult to find Healthcare IT Consultants. Healthcare IT Consultants are considered commodities. Since over a decade we have had to contract and/or hire developers and software engineers from India, China, and Eastern Europe to fulfill demand.
Now with these two simultaneous geographically polarized stimulus incentives for healthcare we will discover that China, which is triggering a high demand for IT skills just as they have for oil in the past, will become a competitor for these resources. We don't have enough and now we have an emerging strong competitor. I don't know what you think but for me it poses a dilemma.
By the time our industry leaders wake up from their "economic nightmare" many entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, and even large software companies will have shifted their focus to the new rising sun. And they currently are as I mentioned before.
The Healthcare Industry in the US will end up picking up the tab. They will end up paying more and getting less. Once again, our spark of modernizing our healthcare system will go off. We will not have a universal electronic health record, we will not have automated the private physician practices, and we will not have a connected healthcare. And all of our stimulus incentive will have been totally spent.
So, if you are one of those leaders without vision and are just waiting for the right time and all the right conditions, then please step down and let someone else take the lead. There are many of us out there, including some who have arrived to this generous country with almost nothing but a few coins and suitcases, and which have already surpassed the American Dream for which we are very grateful, and that are ready to give, serve, and lead.
This is your wakeup call.
Imperfect action is better than perfect inaction.
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