Allscripts-Eclipsys heralds health IT consolidation

The idea is that after Allscripts shares are used for Eclipsys, in a deal worth $1.3 billion, Misys will sell most of its stake in the resulting company through a secondary offering and a direct buy-back from Allscripts. Misys will be left with $1 billion in cash and a 10% stake. It owned 55% of Allscripts before.

Eclipsys, which is based in Atlanta, is best known for a hospital computing system called Sunrise emphasizing physician order entry.  Allscripts, in turn, is best known for a  SaaS offering used by medical offices.

Eclipsys had gotten into the medical office space in 2008 buying Medi-Notes, which was re-branded as part of the Sunrise suite.

The Allscripts and Medi-Notes platforms must now be made compatible, and the two companies are already talking up the benefits of a single electronic health record (EHR) that follows patients from doctors to hospitals and back again.

That sounds like a lot of talk ahead of programmer performance, but CEOs don't write software. Expect some long weeks among Sunrise programmers in Atlanta ahead. You can also expect full flights on United's Atlanta-Chicago run.

Besides taking out the Brits (which may have been the key attraction for Allscripts), the deal is notable as a yardstick in the consolidation of the health IT space which analysts have long expected.

That deal-making may have been delayed by the ongoing government work on meaningful use, which sets the rules under which the sweet, sweet stimulus cash the industry is relying on for growth will be doled out. Now that Allscripts has moved, expect more deals.

The combined company will have plays in both hospital and medical office IT, but it will still have to answer hard questions from customers. Like when will their stuff really work together, and are you getting distracted, and when will I get my sweet, sweet stimulus cash.