First, boardroom eavesdropping? Now corporate espionage? Just when you had almost forgotten about the mess that was Mark Hurd’s first year at HP, we now find out that a serious lack of integrity and accountability wasn’t limited to HP’s directors… Apparently, its officers were in on the game as well. From the Wall Street Journal:

“[Atul Malhotra,] a former Hewlett-Packard Co. vice president has been indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly passing a confidential email from his previous employer, International Business Machines Corp., to senior H-P executives.”

It was almost two years ago that the media storm from the boardroom spying scandal began surrounding HP. Then-chairman Patricia Dunn ultimately resigned in the wake of the ensuing scrutiny, but Mr. Hurd escaped relatively unscathed by feigning ignorance of what was going on at his company. He even managed to snag Ms. Dunn’s chairman title for himself, in what was one of the more unusual corporate governance ironies in recent memory… I wrote at that time:

Mr. Hurd should [resign]. Why? He says he knows the internal memorandums were sent to him, but he says that he didn’t read them. It’s hard to imagine that he didn’t read those memos, but if he truly didn’t, he had a responsibility, and an accountability, to make sure the investigation was progressing, and progressing appropriately. He didn’t. It is especially unusual that Mr. Hurd has now assumed the chairmanship, as well. At the end of the day, directors and officers of America’s businesses and organizations must adhere to high standards, and they must take responsibility when they fall short of those standards.

How many serious breaches of compliance does it take before a chief executive officer is held accountable for their company’s actions? Let’s look at HP… The first one felled a chairman. Here we are at take two…

An (arguably) softer logo? A small “name” change? The world’s largest public company, Wal-Mart, is looking for a fresh start, according to a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. In addition to a new orange and blue logo, the company appears to want folks to decapitalize the “m” and drop the dash: Walmart.

In recent years, Walmart redoubled its efforts to improve its image. It’s doubtful the new logo and slight name change will make a fundamental difference, but it may help. Walmart has been working hard to get the public to notice some of its green efforts. Maybe the facelift outside can convince folks to take another look inside?

Still, just when Walmart seems to start understanding public relations finesse, they remind us they really haven’t entirely figured everything out.

The rebranding effort by Walmart reminds me a bit of the process Kmart went through during its bankruptcy…

I was initially a little sad to see the red go, but I really came to appreciate the “lime green” Kmart logo, and the potential it offered for the company to really revitalize its stores. Unfortunately, Kmart eventually abandoned the prototype logo, stuck with red and blue, and has done little since to effectively get folks to take a second look.

Target is, undoubtedly, the chic marketing juggernaut in the discount retail store arena today. Walmart may not be able to snag that title, but if it can reduce the negative perceptions of itself somewhat, that would go a long way…

(If you haven’t seen Wall•E yet, go now. If you have, you already know this Walmart new logo is temporary, anyway. It is now inevitable that Walmart will eventually change their name to BnL, isn’t it?)

Jewel has a new album out, and it’s a little more firmly in the country genre than she’s done before. Her songwriting and singing are just as great as always, like in I Do:

One song, in particular, that I love from the new album is “Two Become One.” It’s actually a remake from 0304, a particularly upbeat album Jewel released back in 2003. It sounds just as great with a guitar, so I’m glad to hear it reinvented a little.

Go check out all of Jewel’s Live Sets performances on Yahoo!. Her new album is Perfectly Clear, just in case you want to check it out on iTunes.

It’s been four years since Alanis Morissette last released a new studio record. Yesterday, her new album, Flavours of Entanglement, went on sale, and it really is amazing. Under Rug Swept, from 2002, and So-Called Chaos, from 2004, both were great, lyrically and musically… But the new record has a whole range of new sound, style, and expression that is really compelling.

Citizen of the Planet could be a theme song for the mood among younger folks in America and Canada today. Two particularly dark tracks, the emotionally-gripping Straitjacket and the raw Versions of Violence both could have been on an Alanis album a decade ago — and they’re just as great today. Not As We is haunting, and maybe her best studio vocal ever. Each of the bonus tracks that come with the deluxe edition are amazing, especially Orchid and The Guy Who Leaves (although On the Tequila is great fun). One extra bonus track that came when you pre-ordered the album from iTunes, 20/20, reminds me a lot of a track from Björk that I love, I’ve Seen It All. It’s distinct, of course, but 20/20 now joins I’ve Seen It All as one of my most favourite songs ever.

Go buy it. In the meantime, enjoy Not As We, live:

Don’t forget to see the other live performances by Alanis from the new album over at Yahoo!.

In 2003, I had the enormous privilege of meeting Dr. Hedy Fry, who is the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre. As a physician, she brings an invaluable perspective to the range of issues raised in the House of Commons. About two weeks ago, she wrote a guest editorial for the Calgary Herald, responding to an editorial by Susan Martinuk for Vancouver’s safe injection site to be closed.

You have to read the editorial, but here was what struck me, perhaps the most: “[Susan] Martinuk holds that this issue should be judged morally and not scientifically. As a physician whose professional ethic — do no harm — is based on harm reduction, my view is quite different. I believe that to deny proven life-saving assistance to those who are vulnerable, simply because we disapprove of their lifestyles, is perhaps the greatest immorality of all.”

I have spent quite a bit of time these past few months in West Virginia, and I have been disheartened by how severe and pervasive substance abuse has become, especially among young people.

I have never taken a controlled substance, and I have never had the urge to try. I do not completely understand the desire others have, partly because I have a fundamental need to be in control of my actions and aware of my surroundings. But I do recognize that, once you move from desire to use, there is a very thin line separate use from addiction. While I believe the use of drugs is an issue of individual responsibility, I truly believe that Dr. Fry has made a critical point when it comes to addiction: “Addiction is a medical problem. Extensive medical research has established that over the last 20 years. Effective solutions must therefore be based on good public health principles. [...] Those who exploit the addicted by selling and trafficking in illicit drugs are criminals and should be targeted with effective criminal and law enforcement strategies.”

In Canada, and in the United States, the “War on Drugs” seems to be failing. By prosecuting use, relentlessly, we take key resources away from preventing and stopping drug trafficking. If we focussed on preventing and rehabilitating users, rather than criminalizing them, we might stand a chance at saving — rather than further ruining — lives. The safe injection site project in Vancouver is an important — and effective — spoke in what should become a model strategy for curbing illicit drug trade.

In 2006, Sarah Palin made history when she became the first woman, and the youngest person to ever be elected governor of Alaska. Upon taking office, she set out to clean up state government, put smart economic development programs into place, and refocus energy on improving education and infrastructure. Her ability to connect with voters helped her rebuild trust in the Republican brand across the state, which had been severely damaged after allegations of corruption and profiteering rocked the Republican establishment in Alaska.

Her common sense approach to governing, and her practical social and economic positions have broad appeal to voters across the political spectrum. She has proven she can connect to younger and independent voters. And she doesn’t have to just talk about change, she has a track record of making it happen.

All of this to say, if John McCain’s campaign is smart enough to ask Sarah Palin to be his vice president, I think there’s a strong possibility he’d have my vote.

Which is something I never thought I’d say. Am I suddenly a swing voter? Wow.

I contributed $1,900 to Hillary Clinton over the course of the primaries, starting back on January 9. By the time it is all said and done, I will probably have given her the maximum allowable for a primary campaign, $2,300. Over these past few months, I came to believe that Hillary was the one Democrat in this race who could win a general election. I believed then, and still believe now, that she is the Democrat best qualified, capable, and ready to lead America.

If you had told me, six months ago, that I would be sitting here, right now, entertaining, for the first time in my life, the possibility of voting for a Republican for President, I would probably have laughed at you. Likewise, though, if you had told me, six months ago, that the Democratic nominee for President would have “won” the nomination without winning the popular vote in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, or West Virginia… Let me just simplify that… If you had told me, six months ago, that the Democratic nominee for President would have “won” the nomination without winning the popular vote, period, then I would have thought you were joking.

Yet, here we are. We have a nominee who not only failed to secure the working class vote, but who went a step further and managed to alienate those folks on more than one occasion. We have a nominee who hobbled across the primary finish line on June 3, having lost nine of the last fourteen primaries. He lost nine of the last fourteen primaries. After the media had already effectively declared him the Democratic nominee time and time again.

Hello?

Barack Obama has built an influential and powerful coalition, but he’s missing critical constituencies a Democrat has to have to win a general election. He has overwhelming support among African Americans, but has failed to make hardly any progress in securing the Latino vote. He has found great financial support from well-educated, liberal whites, but his support among the working class is terrifying. (Hello, McGovern?) His loss margins in Kentucky and West Virginia were most alarming for me; in my lifetime, I’ve seen, time and time again, that a Democratic candidate who can’t connect with West Virginians can’t win the White House. Barack barely even bothered trying to connect.

His campaign argues that losing states like Ohio, Florida, and West Virginia can be made up by winning states like Virginia and Colorado. But I just don’t see a shift in those states large enough to make that happen. Especially if the ghosts in Barack’s closet continue to haunt him: Jeremiah Wright just won’t go away, and Tony Rezko stands to be ample fodder for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 2008.

The possibility of an African American as president is just as exciting to me as was the possibility of a woman as president. But most Americans didn’t know Barack Obama six months ago. Most still don’t. Which makes it enormously easy for fringe interests, like Swift Boat groups, to paint him as they like. John McCain may detest that sort of dirty politics, but he can’t stop them, no matter how hard he tries. If Democrats were afraid Hillary Clinton’s campaign was sometimes tough on Barack Obama, they really haven’t seen nothing yet…

This will be a tough summer and fall to be a Democrat, I fear. The honeymoon will soon be over, and the right-wing gloves will soon be coming off. If Barack Obama wants my vote, he’s going to have to pick a vice presidential candidate who can fill in the enormous gaps in his experience, he’s going to have to wholeheartedly embrace universal healthcare, and he’s going to have to start connecting with key Democratic constituencies.

He has almost exactly five months. I don’t envy his task. And if he fails, McCain-Palin may be more persuasive than ever come November 4, 2008.

(For what it’s worth, I never, in my most terrifying nightmares, thought I’d be even remotely close to the same page as Rush Limbaugh.)

I really enjoyed thinking out loud, last week, about the pioneering role athenahealth and TriZetto are playing in moving healthcare forward. I liked it so much, in fact, that I might make a habit out of it. This time around, I’m thinking, out loud, about Aflac and Workscape, and their role in the future of human resources…

You surely know Aflac. Yes, the “ask about us at work” duck people. You probably know them best for their “we pay you cash if you get sick or hurt and miss work” insurance products. But, because of the close working relationship they normally have with human resource departments large and small, Aflac has built a growing portfolio of human resources support services for businesses, including managing the administration of coverage continuity, flexible spending, and transit expenses. Aflac is known in the information technology world for their respected (but proprietary) SmartApp customer relationship management software, which allows Aflac to efficiently manage what is, essentially, its own minimal human resource information systems for each of the companies it serves.

While Aflac is a household name, Workscape might be a little bit less well known to folks outside of human resources. But the company is increasingly building its reputation through its innovative use of technology to help companies better manage human resources, including benefits and compensation. The company has signed up companies big and small, from General Motors to FedEx, and even IBM. The key for Workscape is its web-based suite of software that allows businesses to stop having to worry about developing their own human resources information systems or integrating one that’s too big, too small, but never just right. Instead, Workscape adapts, hosts, and manages its solutions for each of its company clients. As an added blessing, employees at Workscape-served companies can then access an online portal, hosted by Workscape, to utilize self-service human resource tools.

While Aflac will probably always be better known for its insurance products, I think continued focus on its Aflac for Business benefits and human resource services could be a real growth area for the company. In fact, as Aflac for Business grows, it could even lead new clients to Aflac’s insurance products. Likewise, I think the future for Workscape is huge: as Salesforce.com and athenahealth and others prove that web-based solutions can really work for business, more and more are looking to other innovators in that field. I think Workscape just might be one such company worthy of the spotlight.

I’ve done work for companies that have “managed” their human resources in all sorts of ways. For one, you basically had to call ADP, which was barely preferable to banging your head against a wall. Just to be clear, I’m pretty sure ADP has never met a bureaucratic hoop or antiquated technology it didn’t like.

At another company, you could spend hours on hold waiting for a frustrated human resource agent to figure out what to type into his or her computer to get it to do some seemingly elementary function, all the while said company was still throwing away millions to implement an already-deprecated human resources information system.

In any case, I would much rather have dealt with the friendly folks at Aflac or the convenient self-service tools of Workscape.

I imagine widespread deployment of electronic personnel records that are convenient, accessible, and, to a certain extent, portable will probably be a reality sooner than the same can be said for electronic health records. We’ve made it there in the financial world… Once our human resource and medical files catch up… Well, by that point Saint Peter will probably be reviewing all my electronic records for admissions purposes…

Good luck, though, to Aflac and Workscape. For your enjoyment purposes, just imagine if the following highly-trained goat was employed to recycle unnecessary human resources paperwork… Yes, that’ll be the day…

Sometime in late 2004, I started taking note of this interesting, little (but growing) enterprise out of Massachusetts called athenahealth. I became interested in the company, with its lack of capitalization and spacing, after it got (what I believe was) its first mention on HIStalk. Naturally, Tim couldn’t pass up the opportunity to poke at athenahealth’s branding, pointing out the company’s “insufferably cute breaking of the polite laws of grammar.”

Grammatical quirks aside, athenahealth has had a fairly remarkable run of growth since, including a ridiculously popular initial public offering last fall. While the overall economic doldrums have put a damper on the company’s share price, athena has continued to add thousands of new physicians to its rolls.

TriZetto is another interesting company, with somewhat less name recognition, in a sector I think I’ll call healthpay (with apologies to HIStalk for the grammar and American Express for the similarity).

Both work on moving money around the healthcare system, and both are trying to improve accuracy and efficiency in the healthcare billing process. TriZetto has focussed more on getting insurers and payers on board (and thus network hospitals and physicians), while athena has targeted getting physician payees signed up directly. (To a certain extent, athena has even buddied up to payees by aggravating payers a bit.) Whether you’re going after the goose or the gander, both athena and TriZetto have their respective feet well in the door for a market that, I think, could be a real driver for personal and electronic health records.

Think about it. Very little gets done in healthcare that isn’t billed to somebody, one way or another. Therein you have procedure, diagnosis, medication, and allergy code information, however binary (and sometimes, however inaccurate). Since moving everyone in healthcare over to detailed electronic charting remains a long-term goal (let alone portable, accessible, and shareable electronic charts), a billing-system-based, all-in-one-place health record would be a pretty decent start. athena is getting there, and so is TriZetto.

Most physician offices, and many hospital workstations have a personal computer of one variety or another. Web-based solutions like what athena is building seem to be the right direction. Hell, if a practice will at least accept credit cards, why not key in procedure and diagnosis codes into the credit card terminal and get Discover, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express into the personal health record business as well. At least we know they’re already great at sharing information…

Seriously, though, as great as RHIOs and HIEs and PHRs and EMRs are (did I miss any?), the reality is we’re moving far too slowly in the direction of getting everyone and all that information networked together. Smart diagnosis suggestion, adverse event prevention, and test results sharing aren’t going to reach anywhere near their full potential until your pharmacy, general practitioner, nutritionist, specialist, emergency department, urgent care, and DMV records are all somewhat reliably linked together.

And God help us if we let some ridiculous “network” like the credit reporting system develop. The day TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian announce personal health records is the day I’m gonna take all my friends and move to Canada, and we’re gonna die of old age…

“Hello, Mr. Deal? Yes, this is your personal health record bureau monitoring service. Yes, sir, you pay $19.95 a month for our service. You don’t recall subscribing to our services? Well, in any event, sir, I just wanted to be sure you were aware that your gynecologist renewed your prescription. You can pick that up at your convenience at your neighborhood pharmacy in Québec. Oh, yes, actually it does look like your usual pharmacy might be in Los Angeles. You may need to dispute that part of your personal health record. What’s that? Oh, you don’t see a gynecologist, either? Well, you should. Should I go ahead and schedule an appointment for you?”

Please, athena, please hurry…

Just a note… Up early, for an early flight this morning. I’ve also changed things so that email alerts don’t go out in the future for political posts, since those might be the most frequent topic for the next few months…

Barack Obama tried yesterday to regain his footing amidst a growing firestorm over comments he recently made, in which he seemed to say that struggling Americans have turned “bitter [and] cling to guns or religion.”

Instead of clarifying his thoughts, or speaking honestly, perhaps, on his feelings about religion or the Second Amendment, Senator Obama decided it would be best to use the opportunity to attack Hillary Clinton, saying, condescendingly, that “she’s talking like she’s Annie Oakley.”

You can see the video footage yourself, of his comments on Senator Clinton (jump ahead to about four minutes).

His demeanor, and certainly his words, have changed from just a few days ago. He certainly seems more bitter, more careless, and more desperate in his choice of words. Probably about the least productive response he could have managed.

Senator Obama’s response isn’t going over well. Here are a few headlines…

Obama Gaffe Undermines Dem Outreach, Politico
Accused of Being Elitist, Obama Lashes Out at Clinton, the Associated Press
Obama Swift-Boats Himself, Wizbang

Some other bloggers have pointed out that “[Senator] Obama doesn’t seem to know much about Annie Oakley…”

In her life, Annie overcame [much] with her determination and strength of character. She played a role in breaking barriers for women with her talent and accomplishments… She showed great compassion and generosity to orphans, widows, and other young women.

Sounds a lot like somebody else I know…

At a private fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday, Barack Obama said that people in rural Pennsylvania become “bitter [and] cling to guns or religion” because of economic problems and poor representation in Washington. The Associated Press is reporting on the story, which was first covered by The Huffington Post.

Hillary Clinton’s response: “‘Well, that’s not my experience,’ Clinton told a Drexel University crowd, describing the state’s residents as resilient, optimistic, and hardworking. ‘Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them,’ she said. ‘They need a president who stands up for them.’”

I think Senator Obama’s statement came across poorly, but this is an example of the fear I have with his candidacy: the other side will be merciless in a general election. They will ask questions about his church, his patriotism, and now his views on rural values, and no matter how he answers, it’s going to be fodder for outside groups which will work hard to destroy the positive image Americans have of him. Remember Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? Truth had nothing to do with their message or their mission, but they succeeded in tarnishing the reputation of a decorated veteran like John Kerry. I can’t imagine they’ll take it easy on Barack Obama just because he’s new to federal politics.

I hope and expect that John McCain’s campaign will be one of the more honorable ones we’ve seen in a while. But even they’re seizing on Senator Obama’s statement: “…a spokesman for [...Senator] McCain, described Obama’s comments as ‘condescending’ and ‘out of touch.’” Another spokesman took it even further: “Only an elitist would say that people vote their values only out of frustration. You can’t be more out of touch than that.”

It takes a lot to go from being a state senator to a presidential candidate in barely three years. Americans are still forming their opinions of Senator Obama. Senator Clinton has been in the national spotlight for more than two decades, and Americans know her, and a strong majority respect her experience and commitment, and have held that respect for just as long.

In the past month, Senator Obama has fallen ten percentage points in a head-to-head matchup against Senator McCain. It’s now a tie, with each garnering 45%. Senator Clinton leads McCain, 48% to 45%. Her numbers have been steady just about as long as they’ve been polling folks on how they think they’ll vote come November.

Senator Obama is inspiring. But he’s also very much an unknown for many Americans. So was Mike Huckabee. And Bill Richardson. And others. If they had made it this far, they’d be vulnerable, as well, I believe, to the same sort of volatility. It takes a lot of experience and good judgment to be president. It takes a lot of both to run for president, too. Calling Americans bitter and angry is not a good way to gain their trust, or their vote.