For those who haven’t been following the story of Extormity, a fictional EMR parodying the sprawling, difficult-to-integrate EMRs used by large enterprises, you’ve missed a treat.

Extormity, whose tagline is “Expensive, Exasperating, Exhausting,” proudly boasts that it was accredited by standards body SEEDIE, the Society for Exorbitantly Expensive and Difficult to Implement EHRs.  The company, they’ll have you know, chose its name because its products are at “the confluence of extortion and conformity.”

For quite a long time — as I recall, at least two years — the people behind this sophisticated mockery of big, pompous EMR players have written reams of extremely funny, but telling, material worth of The Onion or The Daily Show for their Web site.

They also churned out a laugh-out-loud series of fake press releases which helped to build their loyal following. (I think my favorites were “Posting as Guam, Extormity Snags ARRA HIE Grant,” and “SEEDIE Announces ARRA Acronym Certification Program.”)

Though the parody got quite a lot of attention, the companies behind it refused to reveal their identities throughout the entire charade.

Now, in a release premiered at HIMSS (of course), the anonymous players have identified themselves (Check out how EMR and HIPAA broke the Extormity news before the press conference):  they’re NoMoreClipboard.com and MIE- Medical Informatics Engineering.

Of course, when the two companies issued a real press release unveiling their true identities, they did some selling, making comparisons between the ponderous Extormity and their real, lightweight, Web-based product. But hey, after years of entertainment, I was very ready to listen.

I take my hat off to the creative, hugely funny people behind Extormity and SEEDIE, and encourage them to continue with their barbed critique of clumsy EHRs.  Hopefully, encouraged by their advice, no one will have to call their new “EHR Depression Hotline.” But you never know…

One of the most entertaining things I’ve seen in the EMR industry in a while (the Meaningful Use rap gives it a run for the money) is the Extormity EHR website. Here’s a couple excerpts from their latest email alert:

“With all the hubbub about SaaS model EMRs, we elected to continue our track record of unexpected innovation and launch a SaSS, or Software as Scented Server, architecture,” stated Extormity CEO Brantley Whittington. “This is more than just a bolted on aromatherapy device, as our SaSS offering is fully integrated with the EHR utilizing a modified HL7 interface.”
…
According to Whittington, the Extormity SaSS platform will cost $43,900. “As luck would have it, the cost for this is just under the $44,000 available in stimulus funding for physicians who demonstrate meaningful use. Of course, aroma cartridges will be sold separately, and practices will be charged a ‘per whiff’ fee each time a smell is emitted.”

Got to love Extormity. The good news is that they’re “SEEDIE Certified” for all those looking for a certified EHR. They might want to work on their company tagline, “Extormity. Expensive, Exasperating, Exhausting.” lol

If that wasn’t entertaining enough, go and check out some other Extormity EHR news. Although, I will say that Extormity really could use a blog on their site. Would really help them better communicate their message.