This post was originally featured on HIStalk.
There’s a famous Internet meme that explains each of the major social media networks through donuts.
In light of National Health IT week, I thought it would be fun to look at the healthcare IT space through the donut hole:
EHR Companies
Epic: I make the most expensive donuts, I choose who I sell donuts to, and I don’t let my customers share donuts with anyone else.
Cerner: I make donuts using 85 different kinds of donut machines, but tell people it’s one big masterfully planned donut factory.
Meditech: I make donuts using a 1980s donut machine.
McKesson: I just threw out my old donut factory, and since the new one isn’t doing too well, I’m looking for a new donut factory to buy.
Siemens: I designed and manufactured every piece of equipment in my donut factory, even though most of those components are available as off-the-shelf commodities.
NextGen: I make literally every flavor of donut in existence, and none are particularly good; I wonder why I struggle to sell donuts.
GE: I make donuts, burgers, seafood, Indian food, Chinese food, and Italian food and sell them all at the same store.
Athena: I give donuts away for free, but charge people for actually eating them.
Greenway: I used to sell donuts by the dozen, but now I force people to buy a 12-month subscription to buy one donut per month.
Allscripts: I make donuts, then announce donut recalls.
eClinicalWorks: I don’t publicly talk about my donut business, but I sell lots of donuts anyway.
Practice Fusion: I give out donuts for free, and show weight-loss ads throughout the donut shop.
Startups
HealthTap: I provide a social network for people to share tips about the best and worse donut shops.
Catalyze: I help people build donut shops faster.
Pristine: I take pictures and videos of donuts and share them via Google Glass.
ePatientFinder: I match patients to weight loss clinics based on how many donuts they’ve eaten.
Simplee: I make it easier to pay for donuts.
Teladoc: / Ringadoc: I help people eat donuts over Skype.
RunKeeper: I ask people to record how many donuts they’ve eaten.
JawBone / FitBit: I automatically track how many donuts people eat using highly inaccurate algorithms.
MaxWell Health: I help people make sense of donut nutritional facts.
Kai Nexus: I provide tools to manage process improvement in donut manufacturing.
AdhereTech: I remind people to eat donuts on time.
CenterX: I make it easier and cheaper for doctors to prescribe donuts to their patients.
Ovuline: I remind women when they should eat donuts.
Miscellaneous
Merge: I like sharing pictures of donuts with all of my friends.
Mirth: I give away donuts for free, then charge customers when they ask how to open the donut box.
Medicity: I used to sell lean donuts, but now promise that my donuts aren’t influenced by my transfat parent company.
Orion: I sell kiwi donuts to most of Canada.
AirStrip: I provide solutions to watch and monitor donut-producing equipment.
ZocDoc: I help donut customers find donut shops.
WebMD / iTriage: I help people learn about different kinds of donuts.
Consulting Firms: I teach people how to eat donuts.
Every HIE: my customers promised me that they’d pay for donuts, but didn’t.
HIStalk: I write about all things donut.