Author: DOuG pRATt

A Hard Landing for Software

Massachusetts General Hospital is the anchor for the Mass General Brigham network, that was originally branded as Partners Healthcare. Layoffs were announced shortly before I was at MGH three weeks ago to have my afib corrected. The cuts are supposed to be in administration.

https://www.boston.com/community/readers-say/2025/03/14/how-readers-will-be-impacted-by-the-mass-general-brigham-layoffs/

I wonder how much Mass General pays Epic Systems every year? The purchase price in 2015 was $1.2 billion, and that was just for the software. The University of Massachusetts Memorial System is in this list of the most expensive Epic installations.

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ehrs/most-expensive-epic-ehrs-ranked.html

UMass is having its own financial difficulties, made worse by what the Trump administration is doing.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/03/12/umass-medical-school-hiring-spending-freeze

Was the cost/benefit of Epic Systems worth the $700 million that UMass paid?

Speaking of healthcare IT, the government’s relevant website showed a lot of activity leading up to January 20. Since then? Only one item, and that was two weeks ago.

https://www.healthit.gov/

Feeling Toasty

My buddy Bismo was Elwood in his Blue Brothers tribute act, B-Movie Blues.

https://rovingrecordings.tumblr.com/post/130662342953/b-movie-blues-black-hats-bluesmobiles

Elwood’s favorite dining delicacy was dry white toast.

I became a fan of dry white toast while undergoing cancer treatments last summer, when this Pratt was put on a BRAT diet of bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. Since then I have been buying these $1.99 loaves of white bread that toast up perfectly.