“Kind of galling when you realize that the nutbags with cardboard signs had it right the whole time.” That little upbeat nugget was brought to you by the great actor Oliver Platt in one of my all-time favorite disaster movies: 2012. It is an epic science fiction film about the struggle of humanity to survive a series of extreme weather events. (Uncomfortable truth: The movie was made in 2009 but only ~16 years later we seem to be experiencing many of these extreme weather events.) Luckily, there is a happy ending. Very powerful and wealthy people in charge of the U.S. government develop a solution that saves a small part of the planet only after making some seriously difficult choices. This theme is resonating with me this week. Read more in the One Thoughtful Paragraph below.
Now, we pause from these uncomfortable truths for a public service announcement about the hopeful news in our healthcare system:
- At the ViVE conference this week, there were some exciting announcements, including the launch of the Lumeris tool about “Tom” — an AI-powered primary care helper, Abridge’s $250M fundraise for its AI-powered clinical conversations, and symplr’s launch of its interoperability platform.
- UPMC Enterprises launched Ahavi, a platform designed to accelerate R&D with third-party certified data from 5 million patients and 24 hospitals.
- The Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) reports that automating administrative tasks helped save the healthcare industry $222B in 2024, and could help save an additional $20B if fully electronic workflows are adopted.
“Folks, did you hear that? The authorities in L.A. say there’s nothing to worry about. I’d love to see their dumb faces when Malibu and Beverly Hills get sucked into the gurgling maw of the Pacific. Where are they going to plug in their electric cars then? Ha, ha, ha.” Those lines delivered by the definitely-a-little-off actor Woody Harrelson in the film 2012 are pretty great. For those of us living in the Washington, D.C. area and doing jobs inside or related to the federal government, it does feel like people in the proverbial L.A. (i.e., everywhere else) just don’t understand the drama we are experiencing. This world used to be slow-moving and predictable. Not so much anymore. Not predictable example, given this tech-focused administration: The firing of experienced federal workers who are needed to review AI-supported medical devices. Another interesting moment: the few lawyers left unfired at the Department of Justice are investigating UnitedHealth Group for using software to allegedly bilk Medicare for money to pay for sick seniors that aren’t so sick. And yet, the stalwarts of the we-learned-by-reading-books society continue to push out lengthy analyses of why our system is a mess and why no amount of technology will help. But you probably didn’t read it. And even if someone did read it, who will turn a long report into a happy ending like in 2021? I laughed when I remembered this dialogue from the movie:
Adrian Helmsley: The president has ordered us to clean out the White House.
Harry Helmsley: About time somebody cleaned up that mess.
