Let’s face it… Most of us dread going to the doctor.
Whether it’s the seemingly endless wait just to get called, or the cold exam rooms, or the dreaded needles, the experience wasn’t made for comfort. It rarely, if ever, involves any.
However, one of the biggest inefficiencies comes from a part of the doctor’s office which most patients rarely see… Those long, wall-mounted patient chart racks, where thousands of medical histories belonging to thousands of people are stored in manila paper folders that have been used for the better part of the 20th century.
It always amazed me that, in a day when we could look inside the human body and see organs, blood vessels, tumors, and cysts in full color, the function of information technology was still largely based on a paper filing system.
According to a 2010 survey conducted by GfK Roper, the average American sees 19 different doctors during his or her lifetime.
That figure alone illustrates the need for a continuity of data between one physician and the next as well as the obstacles in maintaining that continuity — given the system which still prevails in smaller offices and hospitals around the nation.
It’s confounding on several levels…
World War 2 Tech In 2014?
Never mind the physical constraints of requiring the storage and organization of thousands of folders containing tens or hundreds of thousands of individual pages and images.
Never mind the obvious security risk of having this information available to anybody walking past it, without so much as a basic password to stop them from viewing privileged information, or perhaps swapping the pages of a few charts to see how different people respond to different medications.
And never mind the inherent inefficiency of keeping a large collection of data in various formats in a single file with the only real common thread being the name of the person to whom the file relates.
My main concern with the way that doctors offices, and hospitals up until relatively recently, stored their information — our information — was that it was done to the exclusion of the very people to whom that information rightfully belonged — us.
Well, I was not alone in seeing this clear and obvious deficiency.
As of this year, the global market for electronic medical records solutions is set to approach $21 billion.
This purpose-built software isn’t just designed to allow your doctors to have a clearer view of your unique case, but to allow you — the patient — unparalleled access to, and involvement in, your treatment.
It’s a young industry, barely even born at the turn of the century, but it’s already accounting for a major chunk of the IT sector.
It’s a pattern of positive growth that’s expected to endure for the foreseeable future as a number of large-cap multinational corporations are heavily focused on developing and marketing software for all patient-related logistical needs.
Big Support From Big Dollars
Companies like the $42 billion McKesson Corporation (NYES: MCK) or the $20 billion dollar Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) or on the lower end of the giants, the $6.6 billion Athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN)
All of these, as well a number of other notable medical tech and software companies, and a couple corporate titans like GE, have broadened their product profiles by making inroads into the market
The one I like the most, however, is Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (NASADAQ: MDRX)
It’s the smallest of the biggest players, but is also one of the most focused on patient data management and patient engagement.
It’s a $3.46 billion company, making it small enough to play for serious profits within this field of giants, but also not so small as to be volatile or at risk of inadequate product support.
Earlier in March, Allscripts received recognition from the research company Black Book Rankings, which named their Sunrise electronic medical record (EMR) platform as the top overall inpatient EMR platform for large hospitals and academic medical centers.
The survey, which took place from September 2013 to January 2014, involved more than 600 EMR vendors, and included 168 provider participants from facilities with more than 300 beds.
Today, the stock trades at $19, a better than 100% gain over a year ago — perhaps a good indicator of where this entire industry may now be headed as the Federal Government continues to take major steps in imposing standards and regulations on what has historically been a very subjectively administrated industry.
The Path Ahead Is Clear
I sometimes like to talk about certain trends you can see coming from a mile away.
Trends that, despite their size, their predictability, or their inevitability, are still often overlooked by so many.
Well, this is one of them.
In a time when data storage and management is no less important than the storage and management of money itself, companies on the cutting edge of electronic health record logistics are heading full speed into a bull market that has no expiration date.
There is still a lot of work to be done just pulling the medical industry out of the previous century.
Once that’s done, the job of maintaining and improving the management of this data will remain relevant as long as people use computers, get sick, and go to doctors for cures.
To Your Wealth,
Brian Hicks
Check us out on YouTube!Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.
Brian Hicks
