Editorial

Trapped In a Web(site)

I, for one, welcome our new IT overlords

November 13, 2013

President, Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association

I thought last issue’s Trick or Treat? editorial (bit.ly/1ba2z6C) was as scary as the healthcare industry was going to get for a while, what with ghost companies and Ranbaxy inspections, but leave it to the U.S. government to prove me wrong!

At the beginning of October, the federal Health Insurance Marketplace — intended to enable Americans to sign up for individual health insurance policies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — “went live.” By which I mean, there was a website up (www.healthcare.gov) where users were invited to apply for health coverage. However, that site didn’t actually work, leaving users hanging without even the solace of Apple’s spinning beachball or Windows’ Blue Screen of Death.

In the weeks since, there’s been more trouble with the exchanges, as stories arose of policy cancellations and sticker shock over new rates, but the big story remains the failure of the federal exchange website. Congressional hearings about the website’s failure led to a round of finger-pointing the likes of which haven’t been seen since . . . um . . . the federal shutdown, which overlapped with the launch of healthcare.gov.

People are drawing all sorts of lessons from the disastrous rollout. Some see it as an indicator of how poorly the government can handle market-related activities. Some blame President Obama for overpromising the exchanges’ ease of use (as well as the financial benefits of his signature healthcare plan), while others blame the entire federal procurement infrastructure and the way in which the healthcare legislation was passed. Some blame Republicans for not helping implement a program that they and their constituents oppose.

There have even been pundits suggesting that the rollout of Obamacare might have gone more smoothly if we had a president in place who had actually led a statewide health insurance initiative. However, the only person who fit that category was Mitt Romney, who was last seen presiding over a massive IT failure of his own (go to bit.ly/1as12Gk and bo.st/1dO2pnG and search for “ORCA”), which similarly went untested before a full-scale rollout.

Those are all interesting points, and it remains to be seen whether Obamacare will rally like the 1996 Yankees or peter out like the 2013 edition.

But the main lesson of healthcare.gov is clear to me; we should all treat our IT staff very, very deferentially.

Gil Roth, Editor
[email protected] / twitter.com/contractpharma

A Change Is Gonna Come
This issue marks the 124th regular issue since our October 1999 debut (i.e. not counting our year-end Corporate Capabilities/Contract Services Directory issues). In that time, we’ve used the same general layout and design every issue. I’m a creature of habit, and would probably stick with this layout until the day that magazine technology evolves so far that we beam issues directly into people’s brains, but our art department gave me an early Chanukkah gift by coming up with a new look and feel for the magazine. Starting with the January/February 2014 edition, Contract Pharma will sport a brand-new design!

Our next issue will also kick off our “15 Years of Excellence” anniversary celebration, culminating in a very special treat in our October 2014 issue. (It’s a secret, so don’t ask for clues when you see me at conferences.) Hope to see you there!

What I’m Reading
Pharma
A Biotech King, Dethroned
Andrew Pollack, New York Times • nyti.ms/HJPDen
Comment: The story of David Blech, one of the great hustlers in the history of the biotech industry. You can take “hustler” in a positive or pejorative way. The U.S. Justice Department opted for the latter. His most recent legal defense consisted of: “I made my money legitimately, and I lost it illegitimately.”

Non-Pharma
The Ministry of Guidance Invites You To Not Stay
Hooman Majd • amzn.to/19k5cFR
Comment: Iranian-American writer and journalist Hooman Majd was born in Iran in 1957, but has lived most of his life in America. In 2011, at just about the lowest point for U.S.-Iran relations, he decided to live in Teheran for a year. With his wife and their eight-month-old son(!). This book describes that year, exploring how his family adjusted to life in the Islamic Republic, how nationalism and religion try to outdo each other in the populace, and how the chief negotiating weapon for Iranians (personally and politically) is The Big Sulk. It’s a really good book about a world and culture of which many of us are ignorant.

Why don’t you tell us what you’re reading? Write us at [email protected], www.goodreads.com/groth, www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1775433 or www.facebook.com/contractpharma — and the first respondent wins a prize!