The most mysterious force in health IT is getting a little more Fierce. No, I'm not talking about the secret cabal of physicians united against ditching their paper records, I'm referring to HIStalk, the anonymously written blog that's often been referred to as the National Enquirer of health IT.

For the next several weeks, FierceHealthIT and HIStalk will be cross-posting links on each other's sites. That means you'll get the fierce insight of anonymous bloggers Mr. HIStalk and his crafty assistant, Inga, alongside the Fierce insight of this not-so-anonymous veteran health IT reporter and commentator. (I bet Mr. H and Inga still get more email than I do, and you know exactly how to find me.)

As an occasional blogger myself, I've always envied the Cult of Mr. HIStalk. He's supposedly an industry insider with a real job who does this blogging thing on the side. But he manages to post lengthy entries pretty much every day, offering a depth of coverage and juicy rumors that the rest of us can only dream of. Plus, have you checked out his hit counter lately? He's closing in on 3.3 million visitors in just over six years of keeping track.

The Cult of Mr. HIStalk goes far beyond the Internet, too. He's gotten some major vendors to sponsor a fairly substantial bash at HIMSS each year, where his minions hand out the HISSIE Awards, honoring the best and worst in healthcare information systems. (Oh, to have my own minions.) More often than not, it's an exercise in Cerner bashing, with CEO Neal Patterson as the primary target. At the very least, it's a rare chance to meet up with other vendor executives, who certainly aren't against seeing someone take shots at a major rival.

I can't guarantee that sort of fun over the next few weeks of experimentation, but I'm excited to be mentioned in the same breath as Mr. HIStalk--even if I'm the one doing the mentioning. If all goes well, I suppose we'll make the deal permanent. Perhaps someday I'll also find out the true identities of Mr. HIStalk and Inga. Someday.