Episode # 26:

JS Data

Part 1

“H.I.S.-tory” by Vince Ciotti

© 2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC

JS/Data• Thanks much to these HIS-tory heroes who

helped start the search for the JS/Data story:– Steve Kilgus, VP Product Development at Emdeon

today: “Believe it or not, I came out of college and my first job was with JS/Data.”

– Tom Aikens, EVP at maxIT today who “worked for 21+ years at Dynamic Control, THIS, Baxter, Spectrum, IBAX, HBOC, McKessonHBOC, McKesson….. I think I got the names right!”

• So where did this tiny little upstart firm come from that had the nerve to challenge ‘70s shared system giants like GE, SMS and McAuto?

• Well, such a tiny company could only come from our tiniest state:– Rhode Island!

Riding IBM’s Coattails!• Like so many other mini vendors in the early days of HIS-tory, JS

Data wrote their software for IBM minicomputers, joining:– Dynamic Control, which started on the System 3, then migrated to a

System 15, then the System 34, 36, 38, and eventually the AS/400.– IHC’s ASI, which started on the System 34, then went right up the ladder– LeBlanc- Schexnayder, which offered small hospital systems on IBM minis

IBM

DCCIHC

IHS JS/ Data

• HCS – Joe Fayhe’s firm from Wall, NJ, running on the Sys 38

• AR/Mediquest – starting on the Sys 34, migrating to Sys 36

• IHS – in LaJolla, CA, also on IBM minis

– Not to mention dozens of LIS, RIS & RX ancillary vendors…

What’s in a Name?• “Data” is the easy part, but what’s a “JS”?

– First person to remember the answer was:– Dave Pomerance from Dynamic Control!

• Remember how “AR/Mediquest” was named after “Andy & Roger?” If not, go back to last week’s episode, dummy…

• Well, “JS” stood for John Sacco, another HIS-tory hero who’s living today in California, but started out working in Rhode Island at:

• South County Hospital – a small, 100-bed facility in Wakefield that had an early IBM System 32 mini, and John as their MIS Manager.

• By all accounts, John was a brilliant man, who visited the IBM office in Providence frequently to learn the latest RPG tricks.

• In 1978, he left South County to form JS/ Data, programming it in his kitchen!

HIS-tory Heroine• This episode is actually an “HER-story” as these

details came from John Sacco’s first employee:– Beverly Frascati (not related to that wonderful wine I’m sorry to say…)

• Bev worked at South County with John, and left to join JS/Data.– Amazingly, she’s still working hard in HIT today at Roger Williams Hospital in

Providence, Rhode Island, a “flagship” Meditech shop for site visits.– She gave a demo of Meditech to a prospect hospital from Vermont recently

who still remembered her from their JS Data implementation years ago!

• She remembers the “good old days” well:– The first programmers were former musicians,– Who could make the Sys 36 RPG code hum!

• JS/Data sold well to many small hospitals:– Outside of the big cities, under 100-bed

hospitals dominate New England, and JS/Data sold scores of them…

Ron-Jo(h)n?• Actually, like so many HIS vendors, it took

two to tango at the top of JS/Data, like:– Jim Macaleer & Harvey Wilson together built SMS– Dave Pomerance & Mitch Laskey led DCC to the top– Urban Gerber & Terry Alley formed Gerber-Alley– Andy & Roger originally created AR/Mediquest…

• At JS/Data, the duo was:– John Sacco (on left)• CEO, super-salesman

and programmer

– Ron Young (on right)• COO, chief cook &

bottle-washer

Rapid Rise to the top…• From Ron programming & selling, Bev Frascati doing the installs,

and Ron Young running the “back office,” JS/Data grew & grew…• IBM had them present at regional conferences where System 36

salesmen were thrilled to introduce a hot software “partner”– Although in fact, John & Ron never became a VAR (Value

Added Reseller) for fear of losing their treasured autonomy…• By 1983, they had sold over 200 hospitals on their system, and

grew to over 100 employees (Ron swears they never lost an FTE!)• Their biggest claim to fame was DRGs!• Almost as big in the early 1980s as

ARRA & Meaningful Use are today.• Along with DRGs, JS/Data offered a wide

array of financial apps, even getting into Pharmacy, as the next page attests:

Treasure from Ron Young’s Files:

Whatever happened to JS/Data?• Did they go broke like other

mini pioneers such as:– AR/Mediquest & Sentry Data?

• Or did they get gobbled up like:– Dynamic Control,– Compucare,– SAI (Saint), and– Gerber/Alley?

• You’ll just have to wait until next week to find out - – ‘Cause it’s late and I’m tired…