This document summarizes a fictitious ratings report from CLAS (Ciotti's Latest Attempted Satire) comparing coffee cups from Epic and HIStalk. Through objective testing across various criteria like volume, readability, size, source, and user-friendliness, HIStalk's mug was rated #1, scoring higher than both Epic and a neutral third-party mug. The report questions the objectivity of other healthcare ratings organizations and advocates considering factors like hospital size and years of data when evaluating vendor ratings.

1. Epic Rated
#2!
By Vince Ciotti
© 2014 by H.I.S. Professionals, LLC, all rights reserved.

2. A Real Shocker!
• If you’ve been following HIS vendor ratings from firms like Black
Book and KLAS, this story may come as a real shock. Epic has
been consistently rated #1 for so long in so many categories
(EHRs, service, implementations, etc.), that when they finally
make “only” second place it’s real news. So here’s the scoop:
• Just who can you trust in these days of mass
marketing and vendor “relationships.” Who
really tells the truth when it comes to the
source of information, true objectivity, and
honest communication of research findings?
• Well, HIStalk is relying upon a source that
has never had a single critic or complaint
about its objectivity and candor: CLAS
• (Ciotti’s Latest Attempted Satire)

3. Germane Product
• So what application or service is CLAS reviewing? Rather than re-hash
products that have reported on to death, like EHRs and
revenue cycle systems, or generic categories like service and
implementation, CLAS decided to review a product that touches
nearly every user as intimately as their very fingers and lips:
• You got it: coffee cups, a product
that we all use directly every single
day. A product that does not apply
only to giant AMCs or tiny CAHs,
but one that every healthcare &
vendor worker user uses daily.
• If you were at HIMSS last year, you
probably received a number of
these giveaways from various
vendors, and use them frequently.

4. The Contenders
• So what are the leading contenders when it comes to HIS industry
coffee cups? CLAS picked two of the best-known names in
Healthcare Information Systems for its comparison, to whit:
• If you stopped by the HIStalk booth at
HIMSS last year, Lorre probably presented
you with on of these gems, festooned with
typical headlines Mr. HIStalk reports on in
his daily blog, (in)famous for his candor and
sometimes scathingly honest comments.
• And if you ever visited Verona, WI,
especially in this past few seasons of “Polar
Vortexes,” you imbibed some coffee or tea
in one of these epic mugs in a vain attempt
to thaw out your frozen hands and lips...

5. Key Features & Benefits
• So what does one look for when comparing coffee cups? What
criteria relate as much to end users like MDs and RNs, as those
technical gurus trapped all day in the basement IT department?
• Here’s what CLAS used to evaluate them in its in-depth review:
– Volume – just how much java or tea can one of these vessels
hold before you have to go back for an update/revision?
– Readability – did the vendor properly plan to locate their logo
for ease of viewing so you knew just whose cup you held?
– Size – how large is the container, so fellow office-workers will
know just how much (or little) content you can handle.
– Source– just who manufactured the mug? Was it acquired in a
“mega-merger” deal, or self-developed by inhouse staff?
– User-friendliness – how many fingers of your hand can the
handle handle? Any uncomfortable crimping of digits?

6. Neutral Comparison
• To be sure we were fair and
objective in our reviews, CLAS
used a totally neutral container
with no hint of its origins to
achieve true “blind” testing
comparisons. Unlike Black Book
or KLAS, we used this totally
neutral third party container to
insure our measurements and
scoring were not biased in any
way while comparing them.
• It doesn’t matter how many of
our reports you purchase from
CLAS, we give straight & honest
evaluations and comparisons!

7. Volume Testing
• First test is volume: just how much can the cup hold? Can it
handle huge multi-IDNs or “just” small community hospitals?
• HIStalk’s mug came in at just over
1 & 1/2 cups, enough to satisfy the
average user for many minutes of
typical use before a refill.
• Epic’s cup held only 1 & ¼ cup,
causing its users to have to get up
from their desk a little more often,
losing precious productivity.
• Our neutral 3rd party cup barely
held 1 full cup, showing how
HIStalk and Epic truly are leaders
in this hot & fluid field.

8. Readability
• Can you tell at a glance just whose cup this is, without having to
enter make too many digital clicks & screen flips to find out?
• Epic really came up short here, with their cup
requiring almost a full 360 degree rotation for
the typical user to figure out just whose cup it
was. Imagine a busy nurse or physician
making rounds and having to stop, and hold
the cup with their other hand just to find out
whose cup it was that they were holding?
• Tsk, tsk, poor product design and a sure sign
of a rather weak marketing department, the
key department in any HIS vendor today!
• By contrast, HIStalk and the neutral mug
were instantly identifiable at a single glance…

9. Size
• Does size really matter in this area? What does the size of your
coffee cup tell fellow-workers about your ability to handle it? Is all
this talk about size really relevant today in this era of well-informed
consumers who know what really satisfies them?
• HIStalk really stood out in this key test,
coming in at a whopping 4 and 1/2 inches!
• Epic came up a bit short here again, at just
over 3 and ¾ inches, rather disappointing.
• Interestingly, in diameter they all
measured the same roughly 3 inches
in thickness. Just how important is
girth to the typical HIT consumer?
And does it really matter that much
compared to length? Who knows…

10. Source
• Where did these cups come from? Were they acquired in some
type of “mega-merger” so common in our industry, or were they
self-developed inhouse so the staff knows them intimately?
• Inverting all 3 mugs enables a
fascinating observation: Epic
and our neutral mug give no
hint of their origins – your guess
is as good as mine…
• But HIStalk’s mug (unlike his face in real
life) is totally transparent – check out
this enlargement on the right:
• He must buy them from WalMart and
then have them decorated with his logo.
But isn’t most IT these days Asia-based?

11. Digital Friendliness
• How handily does the cup fit your grip? Does it take too many
clicks & keystrokes to maneuver it, or can you grasp it easily?
• In this critical test of user-friendliness,
HIStalk’s mug really rocks! It’s longer
length greatly facilitates adoptability,
easily grasped with all 4 fingers
snuggled in the large-sized handle.
• On the other hand (punny?), Epic
comes up short as only 3 fingers fit
in its much smaller handle. Maybe
in subsequent releases, further
enhancements might be made to
some day handle more digits?

12. Results
• So what’s the bottom line? The table below shows how these 3
cups scored in our totally objective testing and evaluation:
Criteria HIStalk Epic Neutral
Volume 3 2 1
Readability 3 1 2
Size 3 2 1
Source 1 3 2
User-friendliness
3 2 1
TOTALS 13 10 7
• Note: CLAS inverts the scores so that a first place in a given
category receives a score of 3, 2nd place a 2, and third place a 1.
Confusing? Sure is, but it lets us manipulate the data any way we
want behind the scene so you never know what’s going on...

13. Who Do You Trust?
• So what ratings of HIS vendors and products can you trust while
you’re drinking coffee from HIStalk’s winning mug? Look for:
– # of Hospitals – just how many hospitals responded to their survey – 100+
is meaningful; only a handful could be misleading. None given, beware...
– Bed Sizes – an AMC’s rating of CPSI is as meaningless as a CAH’s rating of
Epic. If they don’t tell you the bed size of the respondents, beware…
– Age – how old is the data? Vendors change pretty radically (ask any
Siemens employee), and anything older than 1-2 years = beware...
– Users or CIOs? - what job titles responded? An RN’s evaluation of an EHR is
a lot more meaningful than a CIOs, just as CIO know more about interface
engines than a registrar. If they don’t tell you who responded, beware…
– Vendor Revenue – how much does the winning vendor spend buying
reports from the rating firm? These companies are in the business to make
money – where do they get it from? If they don’t tell you, beware…
• If anyone knows of a source of system ratings that provides this
data, please let me know at 505.466.4958, or vciott@hispros.com