You're telling me what you need--I'm telling you what we have.

Listening in on some of the PCORI Workshop To Advance Use of Electronic Data, I can't help but be reminded of this bit of the movie Apollo 13:

For organizations like the HMORN, it's crucial to remember that we are data recyclers--we don't get to say what the health plans/providers record in the conduct of their business. We get what we get.

A big part of the valuable expertise that we've built up over the years is how to wring the greatest amount of information possible out of the data that we do have.