Apparently, npr mentioned my blog. They contacted me for a comment on Medsphere's ROI calculator.

So if you are from NPR I thought I should actually give you the entire email I sent to Mr. Weaver:

This is the real story about Medsphere and other Open Source Health IT vendors. It's not that they are inexpensive, although they are much cheaper. Its that their prices actually reflect the markets response to their ongoing performance. That not only makes things cheaper now, but ensures long term cost savings and improvements in performance.

Proprietary lock-in is a form of monopoly where the vendor has an economic incentive to provide poor support. Therefore at least the support services from proprietary vendors are not subject to market forces. That is why they are so poor and Senator Grassely seems to think they warrant investigation.