Happy President’s Day

Today is President’s Day for those not keeping track at home. My kids are out of school today and tomorrow. I’m not sure how many in healthcare IT get this day off. Certainly many in healthcare will be working today like they do every other holiday.

I’ve always found President’s Day interesting, because there are no real traditions for President’s Day like there are for so many other holidays. Maybe some people have them, but I don’t know anyone that has something they always do and there’s definitely not a cultural tradition that everyone does. I do think it’s a great thing to honor and remember our past Presidents.

I’m sure that many that read this have seen the latest movie on Lincoln that’s come out. I have yet to see it, but look forward to seeing it. Many of the previews and reviews I’ve seen paint a really interesting new way to look at a President that I think we all thought we knew. From what I’ve read and heard, Lincoln is painted as a very driven man that wouldn’t take no for an answer and had some of his own demons to deal with as well.

When I think about the bravery that Lincoln had to have to be able to change something so significant as slavery, I can’t help but think that we need someone as brave as him to make the changes that are needed in healthcare. I don’t want to take the comparison too far since in many ways what’s happening in healthcare and slavery are completely different. However, I do think the comparison applies when you think of what it will take to make changes to healthcare. A lot of people’s lives will be effected in dramatic ways by changes to healthcare, just like when slavery was ended.

Our society doesn’t seem to want to make short term sacrifices in order to achieve long term benefits. Healthcare IT is plagued with this and I don’t see any clear path to solve this problem. We need more “Lincolns” across healthcare IT that can really lead despite challenging opposition.

Just a few things on my mind this Holiday. I hope everyone has a great holiday. My wife and I got a room at a local hotel and we’re surprising our kids with a little trip. Should be fun for them.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

   

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