Around the country this summer, doctors are hearing pitches and making decisions on Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems that will be make-or-break for their businesses.
Then there’s US Oncology, which aims to use technology as a way to become the unquestioned leader in its field.
The cancer clinic chain based in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands has its own EMR company, iKnowMed, which has been running both its offices and others since its 2004 acquisition.
The application goes well beyond an EMR. It includes management of drug inventories and revenues, as well as decision support based on its own best practices. It all feeds back into the system’s own knowledge center.
So what you have is a system that can not only collect the data, but analyze it on an ongoing basis to create and deliver best practices throughout the industry.
But wait, there’s more. The software supports ePrescribing, its own Personal Health Record System for patients, and support for the company’s own infusion management system.
All the hot-buttons are hit here. Managing the money, managing the patient, managing the care, managing the devices. Plus you get that sweet, sweet stimulus cash because meaningful use is built-in.
It all adds up to an industry roll-up driven by technology. Cancer care is an enormous market, and has been an enormous cash sink. Here we have a computer system working to turn this into a regular consumer business, with a national brand, and supporting the goals of both the Bush and Obama Administrations.
Very few other specialties have this level of business and technology organization through one vendor. It will be interesting to see what this means on the bottom line.
Is cancer ready for a big time brand?
