So I was biding my time in the Dutch chancellery
on a balmy evening
having strolled from our conference site across Rock Creek on Connecticut Avenue
through a numbingly wealthy neighborhood of Washington
with one of the leading experts in our health care cohort—
a niche whose arcane purpose I’ll sidestep.
Adrian was by now a trusted friend.
We all formed strong bonds in that tight-knit elite.
A reception was held on the deck of the chancellery
with a view of Embassy Row
and hors d’oeuvre exquisitely waiting—
sharp cheeses, perfectly seasoned vegetables, wines you just had to praise—
for the conference attendees to plow into in a room off the deck.
As for these attendees—
well, there were more leading health care experts than you could count,
thronging the deck, discussing
relevant standards and more standards that were to be desired…
engagement strategies…
free software prototypes…
policies at the government agency that no one else in the world knew about
but that constantly rolled off our tongues as the ONC.
I was just as fascinated as the rest by health care privacy
(the topic that spurred Dutch interest in us)
and handles we might grasp to strengthen it
under technological assault.
When I needed a break from
relevant standards and more standards that were to be desired…
engagement strategies…
free software prototypes…
policies at the ONC
I strolled into the room that proffered the hors d’oeuvre.
But before sampling a single crouton
I noticed the paintings on the wall:
ports filled with shipmasts…
cobblestoned streets…
irregular, pockmarked houses…
And the din of the conference attendees…
their deal-making…
their jockeying for academic positions…
their weighing contacted at the ONC
(more formally the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, by the way)
fell away into the distance,
taking new form as revelries of a crowd in Delft centuries ago
and the scent of the prosciutto in the chancellery layout
was transformed into the hearty meats served on staunch oak tables.
I confirmed with a staff person at the chancellery that these pictures
were original seventeenth-century paintings—
perhaps not the best representatives of Renaissance art, but still claimants
to the heights of European expression.
He parted saying, “Enjoy yourself!”
so I savored the mini-Rijksmuseum on the walls.
I’m sure that no other attendee even glanced at those paintings
heading to the wine and cheese and their fantastical plots to optimize health care
while I wondered whether the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
could do more for my health than could the Dutch masters.
Andy Oram
August 27, 2024