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Health IT-World Champions

By John Dodge

Healthcare information technology is one of the most promising vertical industries today. Many health-IT companies just came off a gangbusters fourth quarter, and analysts are forecasting solid growth for 2004. As well, health providers feel a sharp sense of urgency in deploying information technology to lower costs, reduce medical errors, enhance outcomes, and spur efficiency in an industry known for legendary inefficiency.

Yes, the pieces seem to be coming together. So we wondered how the vendor community views such ripe possibilities and the barriers standing in the way of seizing the opportunities at hand. We posed three questions to 40 health-IT vendors, which is by no means a comprehensive list.

We tried to capture a cross section of the community, asking them: What will be the most important developments in the near term? What unique role will your company play? And what are the biggest barriers to succeeding in today's challenging marketplace?

Some of the answers won't surprise anyone. The majority said capital constraints and costs represent the biggest barrier to implementing the things we write about every day, such as electronic medical records. Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman raised the age-old problem of justifying IT solutions. Another barrier, said Amicore president Rich Noffsinger, is the "bewildering maze of disparate systems that make it so difficult" to collect patient data.

But the responses weren't just about financial returns and incompatible systems. Many mentioned encouraging signs as well. Indeed, McKesson senior vice president Mike Kappel told us that the number of monthly log-ins to the company's Horizon Physician Portal doubled from 300,000 last year to 600,000 today. Symbol Technologies senior director Ken Kleinberg said the FDA's new regulations for bar-coding medications will break a "logjam" that has stymied progress and will result in a reduction of medication errors.

Many provided us with great insights. SureScripts CEO Kevin Hutchinson, for example, said the most important development will be cooperation between IT vendors. Indeed, that ties into the call for standards, which many of company leaders said are critical to market success.

And no doubt, these executives are blowing their horns a bit. Who wouldn't, given the opportunity? But hyperbole aside, the health-IT opportunity has never been richer. Here's how leading vendors are going to take advantage of it.

E-mail: [email protected]


A4 Health Systems
John McConnell
CEO and Chairman

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions
Glen Tullman
CEO

Amicore
Rich Noffsinger
President

Cerner
Dr. Jeff Rose
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Eclipsys
Paul L. Ruflin
President and CEO

Epic Systems
Judy Faulkner
President and CEO

HSS Inc.
Bob Leary
CEO

IDX
James H. Crook
CEO

Ingenix
Kevin Pearson
CEO

IntraNexus
J.R. O'Pry
President and CEO

McKesson
Mike Kappel
Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning

Misys Healthcare Systems
Marc Winchester
Senior Vice President of Market Development

Neoforma
Bob Zollars
Chairman and CEO

NextGen
Pat Cline
President

QuadraMed
Michael S. Wilstead
President and Chief Operating Officer

SureScripts
Kevin Hutchinson
CEO

Symbol Technologies
Ken Kleinberg
Senior Director, Healthcare

The SSI Group
Jimmy Lyons
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

WebMD
Walter Peltz
Chief Information Officer

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