HIMSS11 PRESS CONFERENCE MEDIA ALERT –
Extormity Revealed!
Satirical EHR Vendor Reveals the Real People and Reasoning Behind the Parody
WHY: As the healthcare community transitions to electronic health records, many physicians, hospitals and industry gurus have been disappointed in the lack of implementation success and ongoing support from their EHR vendors. In addition, the whole industry is trying to wrap their heads around meaningful use guidelines and how the associated systems and processes will help improve the long-term quality of patient care.
Extormity is a fictitious EHR vendor that tapped into the skepticism surrounding these changes, with the launch of an expensive, exasperating and exhaustive EHR solution and a “fake” certification organization, dubbed SEEDIE – all in a good natured attempt to shed satirical light on the industry’s situation.
While hoping to start a conversation in the market, Extormity wound up creating a movement. “Fan mail” started coming in, and this “company” started e-mailing updates to subscribers loosely based on real news in the healthcare IT space. Headlines such as Extormity Launches Ridiculously Expensive EHR, Extormity Proudly Announces Breach, SEEDIE Announces ARRA Acronym Certification Program, and Extormity Snags ARRA HIE Grant raged over the internet via trade and national media and in industry blogs.
WHO: Extormity EHR and SEEDIE
WHAT: Press Conference Unveiling
The faces and reasoning behind the parody will be revealed and the fictitious “company” will discuss its future goal and strategy of moving the market and reminding the industry that admidst the serious business, we all need to have a laugh now and then.
WHEN: HIMSS11
Tuesday, January 22, 2010
9:30 a.m.
WHERE: 312C, West Building
PHOTO, VISUAL AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
· Extormity “executives” revealing their identities
· Interviews with “made-up” Extormity CEO Brantley Whittington and the “real colonel” behind the parody
· Comments from avid Extormity fans and press conference attendees
· “Real-life” tales from “Extormity-like” customers
· Case studies and comments from customers who have found success with “real-life,” challenger EHR brands
About Extormity:
Extormity, a name created for several hundred thousand dollars by a West Coast brand identity firm, is a combination of the Latin root words conformare (to fashion of the same form) and extorquere (to wrench out). This powerful and memorable moniker reflects the Extormity mission – to squeeze as much revenue as possible from healthcare providers who pay us handsomely for a proprietary software product that we replicate in a nearly identical form and fashion at each engagement. This maximizes shareholder value, so we encourage the people who select our systems to buy our stock – therefore realizing a return on their investment. Some call this approach duplicitous, we call it a new paradigm. For more information, please visit www.extormity.com.
About SEEDIE:
SEEDIE, the Society for Exorbitantly Expensive and Difficult to Implement EHR’s, is a healthcare IT standards organization that is completely funded and operated by a select group of proprietary electronic health record vendors. Unlike independent, objective, professional organizations created to help medical professionals select and implement interoperable EHR solutions, SEEDIE promotes healthcare IT systems that play well in the sandbox if, and only if, it is in the best interests of a particular vendor.
While the other groups argue endlessly about which standards are most appropriate in pursuit of “plug and play” solutions, SEEDIE recognizes that data exchange should only occur after a lengthy and expensive custom integration process. Further, that integration should require ongoing technical support from multiple vendors. For more information, please visit http://www.seedie.org/.
