Morning Headlines 5/26/14

At Cerner’s annual meeting, executives express confidence

At a shareholder meeting in Kansas City, Cerner CEO Neal Patterson reports that, since 2010, the company has doubled its contract win rate. He reported that he is optimistic about the company’s interoperability initiatives and its population health consulting services.

Thaw resigns as Athens Regional CEO

Athens Regional Health System (GA) CEO James Thaw has resigned following a difficult Cerner implementation. The news comes after an internal letter critical of the new system was leaked to the media. The letter was written by physician leadership at Athens, and cites “medication errors … orders being lost or overlooked … (emergency department) patients leaving after long waits; and of an inpatient who wasn’t seen by a physician for (five) days.”

Report reveals America’s top companies for pay and benefits

Epic is named the #5 company in America for companies with the best pay and benefits, falling behind Cosco, and other tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Adobe.

Why I Blew the Whistle on the V.A.

Sam Foote, MD, the whistleblower responsible for alerting authorities to the Phoenix VA waitlist improprieties writes an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times saying that he knew veterans were dying while waiting for appointments, and so he sent a letter to the VA about the secret waitlist in October 2013, and again in February 2014 but nothing was done, which is why he decided to go public.

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