2. H.I.S.-tory Outline
Overview of this H.I.S.-tory of Hospital Information Systems:
1. Four key epochs and the dominant platform during each
2. What I was driving then, symbolic of the computer hardware
3. Key vendors whose inside stories will be told in detail
1960s: Mainframes
1. Platform: Mainframes like IBM’s ground-breaking
Model 360, that filled a large room with their iron
core memory CPUs, noisy card sorters and tape
drives, huge disks - the reason so many hospital DP
shops were located in the basement back then!
2. Vehicle: 1966 427 Corvette – ideal symbol of a
mainframe: 425 horse monster I drove to my first
job at SMS in King of Prussia in 1969 – only got 10
MPG but sure impressed the lady programmers!
3. Vendors: - IBM which totally dominated their
“BUNCH” GRoup of competitors: Burroughs, Univac,
NCR, Control Data, Honeywell, GE and RCA.
3. 1970s – Shared Systems
• What do you do when you’ve sold all the large hospitals their own 360?
• Share a mainframe among many small to mid-size community hospitals!
1. Platform: 1 or 2 large mainframes in a
shared data center connected by 1200 baud
(whew!) phone lines to (eventually)
hundreds of clients nationwide. I/O devices:
keypunch cards & readers, green-bar paper.
2. Vehicle: 1967 Austin Healey 3000 – I had to
share it with my new bride as we couldn’t
afford both the big ‘vette and a mortgage
back in the 1970s…
3. Vendors: GE was the first dominant shared
player with their Medinet system, rapidly
followed by upstart SMS, aero giant
McAuto, and Tymshare from Cupertino, CA.
4. 1980s – Minicomputers
• As Moore’s law predicted, minicomputers soon grew enough power
to cut the cords between hospitals and their shared system vendors:
1. Platform: a fraction of the size (and
cost!) of a mainframe, early minis first
computerized clinical areas in most
community hospitals
2. Vehicle: 1974 Porsche 911 – fast for
such a small engine (only 2.7 liters –
less than half the 427 ‘vette), I rolled it
on my commute to McAuto in 1981!
3. Vendors: dozens of companies offering
HIS & ancillary systems took over the
market from shared systems in the
80s, most notably turnkey mini
upstarts like HBO and Meditech.
5. 1990s – Microcomputers
• PC systems offered amazing breakthroughs in the 90s, taking
automation beyond core financial and clinical apps, to the bedside!
1. Platform: we laugh today at the floppy
disks and main memories measured in
kilobytes (K) in early PCs of the ‘80s
2. Vehicle: 1969 Honda CB750 – Japan’s
breakthrough motorcycle that
conquered the 2-wheeled world, started
my bike collecting fetish. Only 67
horsepower, but faster than any of my
cars!
3. Vendors: dozens of companies
introduced PC systems, with two
standouts being HMDS’ total HIS (on
DOS/Novel!), and Medtake offering one
of the first bedside terminal systems.
6. 1990s – Microcomputers
• PC systems offered amazing breakthroughs in the 90s, taking
automation beyond core financial and clinical apps, to the bedside!
1. Platform: we laugh today at the floppy
disks and main memories measured in
kilobytes (K) in early PCs of the ‘80s
2. Vehicle: 1969 Honda CB750 – Japan’s
breakthrough motorcycle that
conquered the 2-wheeled world, started
my bike collecting fetish. Only 67
horsepower, but faster than any of my
cars!
3. Vendors: dozens of companies
introduced PC systems, with two
standouts being HMDS’ total HIS (on
DOS/Novel!), and Medtake offering one
of the first bedside terminal systems.
