HealthStream readying product launches
Posted on February 24, 2010 at 2:10 pmComing off a quarter that broke records “in almost all categories of operations and financial metrics,” HealthStream is looking at product launches to continue the strong results in 2010.
CEO Bobby Frist said on this morning’s investor call that both of the company’s core business lines, learning and research, will launch new products throughout the year. One is the HealthStream Improvement Center, announced in November. The center is a Web-based platform to help hospital improve performance in employee engagement, physician satisfaction and other metrics after participating in a survey.
Frist said the company sees growth opportunity around Web-based tools that provide recurring subscription revenue, as well as from its existing recurring revenue products. HealthStream delivered a whopping $10.3 million in earnings on a tax move in Q4, but its $15.1 million in revenue was still a company record.
Conspicuously absent from this quarter’s call: The Q3 discussion about getting “aggressive” and “opportunistic” on acquisitions… or, for that matter, any discussion of acquisitions.
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HMS signs Texas health system
Posted on January 28, 2010 at 2:35 pmHealthcare Management Systems has signed a deal to provide Hamilton Health System in Texas with its clinical and financial software. The health system includes a 34-bed community hospital and three clinics.
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Health IT to boost tech hiring
Posted on January 25, 2010 at 1:30 pmOn the heels of a report showing technology sector job cuts rose to 175,000 last year, there are signs that IT hiring may rebound this year, boosted by gains in health care IT. Check out Information Week’s post on the predicted jump in IT spending this year and the impact of health care providers implementing electronic health records.
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Ballmer’s latest bookings
Posted on January 18, 2010 at 7:34 amIt seems everybody is clamoring to make the most of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s Jan. 20 visit to Nashville.
After the Tech Council said Ballmer would speak at its annual membership breakfast, the Nashville Health Care Council booked him for a lunch event on health care IT. Now HCA is planning to announce some sort of philanthropic partnership with Microsoft at a 2:15 p.m., and there’s a 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. “Microsoft Meets Music Row” gathering at the Cool Springs Mariott.
Who gets him after that? The honky tonks?
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IBM and HMS team up on EHR financing
Posted on December 31, 2009 at 8:18 amIBM said its lending arm, IBM Global Financing, has entered into financing agreements with Nashville-based Healthcare Management Systems and three other providers of electronic health records to help health care providers finance the purchase of health IT systems. Eventually, providers can apply for partial reimbursement for the cost of EHRs from the government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
For more on ARRA’s EHR incentive program, see this morning’s previous post.
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At the wire, “meaningful use” explained
Posted on at 7:59 amHolding true to its Dec. 31 deadline, the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday afternoon released two highly anticipated sets of regulations affecting health care providers’ adoption of, and government reimbursement for, health care IT systems.
The first set of regulations explain “meaningful use” – the standards health care providers must reach in using electronic health records to be eligible for incentive payments from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The proposed rule, which includes 25 objectives, is open for public comment for 60 days before HHS issues final regulations.
Secondly, HHS provided the certification criteria EHRs must meet so the providers using them qualify for the ARRA funds. These interim final rules take effect in 30 days with a 60-day public comment period to follow.
For those not interested in reading hundreds of pages of regulations, find links to fact sheets here and here.
See also: Coverage from the Wall Street Journal and Modern Healthcare.
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Top 10 health care trends for 2010
Posted on December 18, 2009 at 11:01 amThe top trend in health care for next year will be an intense, industry-wide effort to reduce costs, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Adjustments related to health care reform landed in the No. 2 slot. Check out the full list here.
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ICA hooks up with Silicon Valley player
Posted on August 20, 2009 at 1:13 pmLocal health care information technology venture Informatics Corp. of America has inked an OEM partnership with Silicon Valley tech firm Mark Logic.
This partnership will support the meaningful use of the ICA Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution and advance population health management techniques for hospitals and integrated delivery networks, which include Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), regional health information organizations (RHIOs), and other statewide initiatives.
Of the deal, ICA chief technology officer Jeff Cunningham said:
As a result of this partnership, ICA expands its ability to enrich, search, navigate, analyze, and dynamically deliver aggregated healthcare content across patient populations. This is a key differentiator for ICA, and of critical importance to our customers who will be able to take data from any source or format and make the information more usable in combination with the Mark Logic platform.
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HealthStream makes the top 100
Posted on July 14, 2009 at 10:02 amLocal health care learning company HealthStream has come in at number 54 in the Healthcare Informatics 100, climbing seven spots in this year’s ranking.
The 16 th annual listing, published in Healthcare Informatics, ranks both public and private healthcare IT companies based on the previous year’s performance. HealthStream’s 2008 revenues grew 17 percent over the previous year to $51.6 million. Concurrently in 2008, approximately 190,000 new subscribers were implemented to use the Company’s learning platform, the HealthStream Learning Center®, bringing the network of contracted users to approximately 1.9 million—or approximately 38 percent of the acute-care hospital market.
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