“H.I.S.-tory” by Vince Ciotti

© 2012 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC, all rights reserved

Episode 66:

R.I.P:

Dick SchoppA True HIS “Pro”

Another Sad Day in HIS-tory…

• Very sad news last week about the parting of a long-time friend and true “HIS pro:” Dick Schopp.

• So we’re interrupting our story on the many vendors Keane acquired to pay tribute to this HIS veteran, who was not only a great human being, but also a consummate business professional.

• It’s sad that as our industry matures we are losing more and more of these HIS-tory heroes like Dick and Bill Corum, so join me in reminiscing about this great guy.

“Director of Data Processing”• Like so many early HIS pioneers, Dick got

his start in IT working on mainframe systems back in the halcyon 1960s.

• Dick’s resume of these early days of IBM 5081 keypunch cards starts his story well:

• Magee Women’s Hospital – Director of Data Processing - Responsible for installation and management of

first computer system for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.- Including: redesign and reengineering Patient Accounting, Billing, Cashier, Admitting, Registration and Credit and Collection depts.- Designed, developed and implemented an automated laboratory information system. -Managed 38 employees in the following areas:

DP, Admitting, Registration, Cashier, Billing, Accounts Receivables, and Collections.

Amazing Sales Successes• Early in the 70s, Dick left Magee-Women’s to

enter the commercial world, joining the fledgling HSD division of McAuto, selling Walt Huff’s pioneering “HFC” in the lion’s den!

• Being based in Pittsburgh, he was given the mid-Atlantic territory, home of my alma mater SMS, with easily the greatest sales team in HIS!

• Here’s a great story about Dick’s sales prowess from Jim Pesce, who also joined McAuto then and today heads up McKesson’s Paragon division:- “I guess many of us new Dick for at least

40 years.  My most vivid memory of Dick was way back when he sold Frankford Hospital right in SMS’ back yard in Philadelphia back in the mid 1970’s...” 

The Client Comes First!• Jim continues the Frankford story:

– “When I showed at Frankford up as their implementation consultant manager for the initial planning session with the CFO, Bud Pepe, Mr. Pepe was adamant that he wanted to install McAuto’s 3rd party logs first because of his pressing Medicare audits.

– I was confused because at the time McAuto had no “3rd Part Logs”. When I asked him what 3rd party logs he was talking about, he said “the ones that Dick Schopp sold; they were the main reason I selected McAuto.”

– When I called Dick and told him we didn’t have any 3rd party logs, Dick replied calmly, ‘Then we better get some real fast!”

• This may sound like harsh selling, but when I showed up at Alice Hyde Hospital in Malone NY in 1971 as the ID for SMS, they wanted to start with EKGs, which SMS (Siemens) doesn’t offer to this day!

Other Friends From McAuto• Dick’s Sales Manager at the time was another HIS-tory hero, Jim

Navin, pioneering recruiter and co-founder of the Meditech consulting firm Navin-Hafty, tells this story of his early times with Dick:– “Your sad news reminds me of the 1970s when Dick

reported to me at McAuto HSD. He was a good salesman, a good manager and a good friend. My favorite memory of Dick is of touring Mexico City with Pat and my wife Nancy before HSD’s first one hundred percent club. Four people enjoying life and Mexico City…”

• Another McAuto veteran, Melinda Costin, today a VP at Baylor, recalls Dick with equal fondness:

• “He was great guy…. He taught me my greatest lesson in one sentence and I never forgot it (though did not always practice it!): ’You are so right that you are wrong’.”

Fascinating Factoid• Dick and I became friends at McAuto during my stint there in the

early 80s, and one of my fondest memories of him was how we both ended up fighting a losing battle for a HIS-tory heroine.

• Seems McAuto had a policy of paying recruiters based on which one mailed in the resume of a candidate first. No matter how much time you spent coaching & cajoling that person to take a job, whoever time-stamped a resume first got the commission.

• As Marketing Services Manager, I got to interview candidates and give them a tour of HSD, and tried to sell the good ones on joining McAuto. Dick sent a fine candidate in who had been recruited by a new recruiter (ex-SIDA) by the name of Betsy Hersher!

• Despite all her hard work at recruiting this candidate, seems some other agency had sent in the her resume a day earlier, and got the commission. Dick and I fought in vain to get the McAuto bureaucrats to give Betsy a break, and the three of us became fast friends…

On To Brooklyn!• When I left McAuto for HIS, Inc. in Brooklyn, I used Betsy to recruit

the very best salesmen I knew from my days at SMS and McAuto. Here they are below, one of the greatest sales teams in HIS-tory:

Bert HochsteinHIS Inc’s own NY native, for the Northeast region

Brain FitzpatrickOne of SMS’s best reps ever, for the Rocky Mtn states

Jud ForemanAn IBM & SMS superstar, for the Western region

Roland ThibaultAn SMS & McAuto vet & ex-CFO, for the Mid-Atlantic

Dick SchoppA McAuto veteran & sales superstar, for the Midwest

Mike CrabtreeEx-Mac sales support maven

Larry EvansEx-McAuto sales support guru, also designed HIS’ clinical apps.

Don TrammellEx-SMS and McAuto sales superstar, for his native South.

Some jerk from Philly who got off the wrong subway stop in Brooklyn…

Starting His Own Firm• HIS’ super sales team sold 10 of the nation’s largest hospitals on a

system that didn’t even exist yet! (don’t mock we old folks, think of Paragon in 1997, Soarian in 1999, Release 6.0/Focus in 2005…)

• Dick led the chase by selling two mainframe sites in the Midwest:– Catherine McAuley Hospital and the University of Indiana Medical Center

• Programming the system turned out be harder than selling it (duh), and when HIS Inc. eventually filed for bankruptcy, Dick left…

• After selling so much stuff for others, he decided to go consulting to help his mainframe friends.

• He named his new firm Healthcare Computing Strategies (HCS) and it was tremendously successful, providing programming to over 300 hospitals with over 100 employees, including many McAuto veteran like Bill Corum, Ops VP.

Good Times• My best memories of Dick are socializing with other HIS veterans:

- With Jud Foreman (also from SMS/McAuto/HIS Inc.) and our wives

- Dick in the hat playing fierce defense against Larry Mancini (McAuto), Bob Pagnotta (MDS & Tymshare) & Brain Fitzpatrick (SMS & HIS Inc.)

- Hamming it up with Bill Bogutski (SMS) and Brain Fitzpatrick (SMS & HIS Inc.)

- With our lovely wives on a mountain overlook near Santa Fe, NM.

The HIS Pro• HCS did very well for many years until Y2K which drove most

mainframe shops to cease their self-developing and buy a vendor turnkey system in the late 90s. Dick tried to shift HCS’ resources to HIPAA in the early 2000s, but cash flow dried up and HCS folded.

• He then joined our consulting firm and did fabulous work at battling the very sales tactics he excelled at! He spent his remaining years with us as the embodiment of our name: HIS Professionals.

• Here are some more quotes from HIS industry veterans who worked with Dick during his many years with our firm:– “Dick was a great guy and always a pleasure to work with.”

• Troy Rosser, Senior Vice President of Sales, CPSI– “Very sad. He was a such wonderful guy – we’ll miss him.”

• Brain Fitzpatrick, worked with Dick at HIS Pros, and HIS Inc.

Requiescat in pace– “I was saddened to hear that one of your friends and coworker

(Dick Schopp) has passed away. God Bless him and his family!”• Paul Kingston, Western Regional VP, Meditech

– “Dick was one of the good ones who stood for integrity and always had the best interest of the customer first and foremost. He led a great life… I will definitely miss him.”

• Phil Boarman, Enterprise Sales Executive, McKesson• Dick is survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Pat, whom I’m sure

would love to hear directly from any of Dick’s many friends at: – pschopp@comcast.net

• Or you can send her a card at:Pat Schopp24W514 Cernry CircleWarrenville, IL 60555