Allscripts Acquires HealthGrid to Improve Patient Outcome
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions MDRX recently closed a previously-announced acquisition of Florida-based HealthGrid Holding Company for a deal value of $60 million in cash. The buyout is likely to significantly expand the company’s FollowMyHealth platform, a patient engagement solution that connects consumers with providers.
The latest development is likely to drive Allscripts’ shares which have rallied 6.7%, compared to the industry’s gain of 6.8% in a year’s time.
FollowMyHealth is an EHR (Electronic Health Record)-based patient engagement platform that combines personal health record, patient portal and health information exchange (HIE). Per management, majority of Allscripts’ clients use FollowMyHealth.
On closing the deal, Allscripts aims to integrate HealthGrid capabilities into its flagship FollowMyHealth platform to help providers reach out to 100% of their patient population without requiring patients to sign up for a portal. Notably, HealthGrid is a leading mobile, enterprise patient engagement solution that helps hospitals and health systems improve patient outcome.
The latest development will help Allscripts offer the most comprehensive patient engagement solutions.
Allscripts and EHR
In the recent past, Allscripts has diversified its EHR base by acquiring McKesson Corporation’s hospital and health system IT business, also known as the Enterprise Information Solutions (EIS). This has lent EIS customers access to Allscripts’ coveted population health management solution CareInMotion and Revenue Cycle Management Services to improve patient outcome and accelerate their transition to value-based care.
Other flagship EHR platforms include Allscripts Professional EHR, an Open-platform solution that brings all information sources into harmony to create an open, connected community of health.
Moreover, Allscripts TouchWorks EHR is built to offer clinical decision support at the point of care, e-prescribing, a configurable clinical desktop and nearly 800 clinician-reviewed care guides.
The company has also launched Avenel, a next-generation cloud-based EHR built on Microsoft Azure that creates a community-wide shared patient record.
Market Prospects
Per research by MarketsandMarkets, the global e-prescribing market is projected to reach $1,403.2 million by 2021 at a CAGR of 20.8%. Increasing government initiatives and incentive programs, rising focus on the reduction of fraud and abuse of controlled substances and focus on reducing medical errors are driving the market.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Allscripts carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Abiomed, Inc. ABMD, Genomic Health Inc. GHDX and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. VAR.
Abiomed has a long-term earnings growth rate of 27%. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Genomic Health has an expected earnings growth rate of 187.5% and a Zacks Rank of 1.
Varian Medical has a projected long-term earnings growth rate of 8%. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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