News 02/12/04

Opus Gets Ex-McKesson EVP
Cindy Boerum, ex-McKesson EVP of national accounts, joins Opus Healthcare Solutions as VP of sales and marketing. They should probably update their web page that still lists co-founder Fred Beck in that position. I couldn't recall where I'd heard of them until I saw a quote from Linda Reino, CIO at hospital chain Universal Health Services. They'll be at HIMSS so I'll check them out, but I'll dodge CEO Tim Rhoads, described on their site as having a "tough, no-nonsense approach." Sounds like he wants to fight.

McKesson CEO Stock Grants
If you're a McKesson stockholder, you surely aren't thrilled with your return. You probably aren't tickled that management decided to invest heavily in HBOC's house of cards. You may have voted for the "golden parachute" clause passed recently to keep slinking-away executives from stuffing their pockets. So, you won't be encouraged to know that McKesson's John Hammergren was #11 in stock option grants given in 2003. How much? $24 million, unrestricted, regardless of company performance.

Hot Topic: MEDITECH's Furniture
From a MEDITECH board member and officer: "I was shown your Feb 11 blog about MEDITECH. It was quite interesting and well written, but I do have one strong disagreement with you: We got rid of the 'flea market' furniture years ago." I'm truly sorry to hear that, since I thought it was the coolest thing I'd heard about an HIS vendor. It was a mid-level MEDITECH guy who told me awhile back. It impressed me as much as those early Microsoft stories about Bill Gates needing a shower or Steve Jobs working from his dad's garage. It's hard to tell from the e-mail whether the board member's tongue is in cheek with his reply, but I like to think it is.

Stentor's New CEO
Jeff Otten, CEO of Brigham and Women's Hospital until 2002, signs on as Stentor's CEO. He was also COO at HUP previously. This company's got success written all over it.

IDX Posts Great Numbers Today
FY2003's net income was over six times that of 2002, revenue up around 20%, and FY2004 guidance raised to $500-525 million revenue and $0.94-0.98 EPS, up from prior guidance of $455 million and $.91 previously. They mentioned four big Carecast contracts in 2003, which was weaker than predicted. Their UK projects should help.

Princeton Healthcare Reduces Help Desk Cost by 30%
Princeton outsources help desk functions to Superior Consultant and claims a 30% savings. I'd keep quiet about those results since they imply colossal mismanagement when an outsider can run your operation better than you do, reduce costs, and make a healthy profit margin besides. In fact, here's a quote from them that seems to imply exactly that: "Our IT department was in need of a discernible infrastructure, policies and procedures, and organization. NetLinc made an immediate difference throughout the health system-we literally went from cacophony to orchestration." Does running a department with indiscernible infrastructure, no policies and procedures, and no organization make you marketable?

Your Federal Tax Dollars at Work
The bacon's been brought home in Pennsylvania as struggling Philipsburg Area Hospital gets a $250,000 federal grant for computer upgrades. I'm not sure why I'm paying for this.

Survey: Patients Want EMRs
Cost was the #1 hospital concern of US citizens in a recent survey, followed by quality. Sixty three percent of those surveyed thought it would be very valuable to have a single, centrally accessible electronic medical record in a hospital (what were those other 37% thinking?) A fourth of respondents believed such EMR systems are already in place. Privacy is a concern of 58%.

TeleVox Acquires SmartTalk
Healthcare messaging company TeleVox Software buys SmartTalk, maker of doctor-to-patient messaging systems. At press time, neither company explained why its name followed the overexposed "two words with caps but no spaces" naming convention.

Will Siemens Buy an HIT Company?
Siemens, looking for ways to spend its $13 billion cash reserve, says it wants to strengthen its Medical division, its most profitable unit. Threatened by strategic GE acquisitions in Europe, could Siemens look to strengthen its foreign (US) business? Says the article: "After last year's joint venture between Siemens and fellow German medical company Draegerwerk, which gave Siemens added market share and expertise in ventilation, some analysts say Siemens may look to expand its medical information technology business. "So far, they develop it in-house, but they might want to make an acquisition to get there faster," said Axel Funhoff, an analyst at Bear Stearns." Maybe they'll buy Stentor, although I'd guess Eclipsys (but then again, I always guess Eclipsys.) Soarian could sure use a big brother.