You didn't have to create the interoperability. You didn't have to worry about data silos. You could create metrics across your clinically integrated network. You could have a clinically integrated network. You could, , share protocols across that network. I mean, there was just so much value to that. And I, all you have to do is go back to that time. Meditech didn't have it. And I was a Meditech shop and I'm a Meditech fan. , they didn't have it. , , e-clinical works. Didn't have it. Practice fusion. Didn't have it. , you name it. , Cerner didn't have it. , , an integrated acute name and for your system was key. And at the time when this was past. They were the only one who had it. And by the way, the passing of this. I didn't favor epic over any other EHR provider. And at the time there was hundreds of them. And so this could have really gone in any direction, but at the time they had a distinct competitive advantage and that was it. I think they continue to win because they had fewer failed EHR implementations than their competitors. And that landed, then the reputation of no one ever gets fired for buying epic. That is a huge advantage in a risk averse industry. The reason. That they were able to have fewer failed implementations and they had a couple they've been written about, I think Maine was one of them. . I think they, there were some issues down at MD Anderson as well, and, , but very few failed. Ima implementations on epic, a lot of failed implementations on other platforms. Okay. And the reason that you didn't have that many failed implementations on epic is they're prescriptive and they're not relying on the client's plans for implementation. . They essentially came in with a playbook and said, we don't care. How good or bad you are. If you follow this playbook, we're going to minimize the risk of you having a failed implementation. So they were very prescriptive follow this playbook. In fact, they would go as far to say, if you're not going to follow the playbook, you're not going to get our software. We're not going to sell you our software, that in and of itself shows courage to say, you know what? We don't want to fail. Implementations. It hurts our reputation as much as it hurts your , reputation, and we want to ensure success. Okay. And so no healthcare leader in the industry wants to be in the news for failed EHR implementation. So that's why they continue to succeed. The next thing is, I believe we are at a point now where epic continues to win because there's a network effect that has taken hold. , the more systems they win, the more systems they win, the more people that are trained on epic. So you can hire nurses who already know epic. You can share records easier across that epic to epic. , connections. You can also enable new things. Like we saw at UGM where doctors can find patients with rare diseases. In other cities with symptoms. That they can do a symptom search and then they can consult with those doctors and find these rare diseases and work together to solve that you get the picture. I mean, there's a lot of reasons. And not the least of which is there an organization that listens very well , to their clients and to the industry. So I think there are, there's a lot of reasons why they have succeeded. There was no. , Really regulatory capture involved in the passing. Didn't favor them over other people in the industry. And by the way, , A couple of other things. He notes the, , the three. Payouts, I'll give you the three payouts. Cause I don't think the payouts had anything to do with, , targeting in any way. You had the e-clinical works payout, where they agreed to pay 155 million to resolve allegations, that it misrepresented the capabilities of itself where and paid kickbacks to certain customers. You just can't do that kind of thing. So that's 155 million and that's mainly due to the fact of the scale. Right. E-clinical works was a pretty predominant. , ,

It may not have even been a better product at the time, but it was an integrated product at the time, which gave it a competitive advantage. They had fewer failed implementations. And now there's this network effect that has taken hold.

So that's why they've been successful. And, , you have a growing monopolistic pressure that is happening as a result of just wins, just they keep growing. They keep winning, they keep getting more medical records that is of concern and should be something we keep an eye on. But at the end of the day, I don't think the government gave epic an unfair advantage.

So I thought I would just set the record straight. I'm not an epic apologist, but I know that, , this narrative is just wrong and it's going to be prevalent because it's on social media, it's getting so many likes. It's getting out there and it supports a narrative that people want to portray, which is an evil empire and corporate greed and all those kinds of things.

So, , Yeah, there it is. That's my version of the record. If you have a different version, shoot me a note, bill it this week, health.com. Love to talk about it. All right.

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