Up to speed on CCHIT controversy

We may have a definitive account on the recent controversy about the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology and its relationship with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. I sure hope it’s definitive, because it’s a story I wrote for Healthcare IT News—my first byline in that publication after several years of working for a competing publication that’s no longer around.

Having to hew to actual journalistic standards rather than the lawless nature of the blogosphere, I did not name “Calvin Jablonski,” “Rocky Ostrand” or “Maggiemae Ph.D.” in the article because I was unable to confirm those identities. In fact, the Jablonski and Maggiemae comments were so similar in language and tone that I suspect they might be from the same person. I also wonder if “Rocky Ostrand” wasn’t somehow a play on the name of Racquel Orenick, corporate counsel of HIMSS, whom I quoted in the story.

I also left out of the story some of the more incendiary comments from the pseudononymous critic or critic, but included the critiques of those willing to go on the record with their real names.