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“H.I.S.-tory”by Vince Ciotti
© 2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC
Episode # 27:
JS/Data
Part II
Now Where Were We…• We’re just finishing up the mini vendors who
dominated HIS sales in the 1980s:– HBO, Meditech, DCC, Gerber/Alley, etc.
• Upsetting the dominant shared systems like:– SMS, McAuto, GE, Tymshare and the many Blues…
• We’re down to the last few “mini” minis:– AR/Mediquest and JS/Data, both running on IBM
• Who, although they didn’t dominate in terms of number of $s, made fascinating HIS-tories:– Remember what “AR” in AR/Mediquest is for?
• So whatever happened to JS/Data?– Click right to find out!
Hidden HIS-tory Heroes• John Sacco, founder of JS/Data, and Ron Young, his COO, were
kind enough to give credit to some of the many hard-working employees behind the scenes who made JS/Data succeed, like:• Bev Frascati, top right, who installed
systems at many of JS/Data’s clients, and is still working today at Roger Williams Hospital
• Becky Magee – (no picture, sorry) who John stole away from AR/Mediquest: “I hired Becky Magee away from them and she became a super salesperson for us.”
• Sue Cohen, bottom right, according to Ron Young: “one of the best technical writers in the industry. She wrote and typed every single user manual for JS/Data by herself, an amazing technical writer.”
Exeunt, Stage Right• So what happened to JS/Data?
Check out this cover of Healthcare Computing and Communications circa 1984, that features many of the key players in JS/Data’s fate (from left to right):– Rick Adam – the boss at
Baxter Travenol Laboratories– Frank Russo – who headed
up StonyBrook systems– Steve Dougherty – who
headed sales at DCC– John Sacco – JS/Data CEO– Ron Young – JS/Data COO
Baxter/Travenol/AHS• Like DCC, JS/Data was acquired, by Baxter in 1984 (who
themselves had merged with Travenol and American Hospital Supply), creating an offering of 3-tiers of HIS:– JS Data – on IBM’s Sys36, called “Alpha” for <100 beds– Dynamic Control – running on IBM’s Sys 38, which they
called “Delta” and sold to mid-size sites of 1–300 beds– “Stony Brook Systems” = IBM “PCS/ADS” mainframe
software for large AMCs and IDNs named “Omega.”
• So Baxter/Travenol now covered the waterfront, with products for every size hospital, and JS Data was their stellar “low-end” option, targeted to small, under 100 bed community hospitals.
Internecine Warfare• Steve Kilgus points out the problem Baxter hit:
– The line between Alpha (JS Data) and Delta (Dynamic Control) was a rather thin one as, in fact, JS Data had a number of hospitals at or over 100 beds, just like DCC had many under!
– Baxter allowed prospects to chose between them, running demos and giving bids for both so the hospital could pick…
• Sounds magnanimous, but it drove Baxter sales people crazy in that they were basically competing with each other!– Let alone R&D programmers at HQ who were loathe to share
product development with the “enemy” in the next cube…• Isn’t it wonderful how much progress we’ve made today:
– Leading vendors like McKesson, Siemens, Meditech, etc., have learned to offer but a single single product to concentrate all their sales and R&D on… no product overlap for them!
Merger-Mania Continued!• Baxter reached ≈300 hospitals on JS-Data, making it one
of the best-selling small-hospital systems of the 1980s. • Since all 3 of the supply giant’s products ran on IBM,
(Alpha on Sys 36, Delta on Sys 38, and Omega on mainframes)
• Their next move was predictable: “partner” with IBM!• What do you call the combination of IBM and Baxter?• Why: IBAX of course, the “next big thing” in 1989 HIS,
who immediately re-named their 3 acquired products:• JS Data/Alpha became Series 3000 • DCC/Delta became Series 4000- Mainframe/Omega = Series 5000- Got it? Good because it’s all gonna
change with the next merger…
One More Time…• IBAX grew to 800 employees, and was headquartered in
Hauppage, Long Island, close to Stony Brook Hospital, the site of mainframe software “Omega’s” development.
• CEO of the new firm was Frank Russo– Former CIO at Stony Brook University Hospital– Who built Omega using IBM’s “PCS/ADS”– IBM’s tools for “roll your own” mainframe sites,– Which evolved from the “Duke/Parkland” System.
• Needless to say, IBAX too was open to offers…– And in 1994 HBOC bought them and their ≈600 clients!– JS Data (Series 3000) was “merged” with DCC (4000) to make
“Series 2000,” later shortened to just “Series,” in which pieces of JS-Data’s RPG code still runs in hundreds of hospitals today!
The HIS “Family?”• So what’s with all the paisans at HIS vendors:
– Frank Russo at Baxter– John Sacco & Bev Frascati at JS Data– Bob Pagnotta at MDS and Tymshare– John DePierro ay Gamut & MDT– Neal Pappalardo and Larry Polimeno at Meditech
• As for SMS, well it might as well have been from Palermo as King of Prussia:
• Tony Sammartino• Sam Ziviello• Rick Folino• Vince Ciotti• Bob Romani• Tony Mirigliani• Peg Micelli
• Ah well, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence…
And Where’s John Sacco Today?• Working hard! Check out this amazing coincidence:
– My daughter made a major mistake, and followed in her Dad’s footsteps into healthcare, first as a Travelers Nurse…
– She travelled all over, & got nice experience using various HIS-es,– Then took a job at UCLA Medical Center
on an “epic” Epic implementation.– So who was her Project Manager at UCLA?– You guessed it:
– John Sacco!– John has since retired, and is moving
to the south of France:
“Vive La Provence!”
- John, save me some vino!!
What’s Next?• Here’s some interesting ideas from recent emails:
– Cornelius Mcloughlin – from NYU - [email protected]• Are you planning on reporting some of the first Laboratory Systems? • I am familiar with Clindata from BSL, Berkeley Scientific Labs, 1970.• Also: Spear (Sperry-Rand?) and DNA (Diversified Numeric Analysis)• Those of us still around from the late 60s-early 70s would be interested!
– Walter Tanenbaum - [email protected]• Why don’t you do one on consulting firms. That would be a kick!• I was CIO (or whatever it was called then) at Montefiore in 1970; • Was recruited by KPMG in 1980 at the beginning of their HCIT practice; • Recruited back to Montefiore in 81/ 82; went back to KPMG in 1987; • Founded my own firm, The FLEX Group, in 1987
Thanks also to many others who have sent in encouraging emails on their HIS experiences. Keep those cards & letters coming in!
• Please send any contributions to: [email protected]
