Friday, September 23, 2011

Business Week - EMR a "Silicon Valley Gold Mine"

This Business Week article  details    what it calls the new "Silicon Valley Gold Rush" -EMR

It's an interesting take on the subject.  Kalorama has in many versions of our EMR report (we have been reporting yearly on electronic medical records markets since 2007) said that there is opportunity for new players - no one company has leadership.  There are large concerns involved here - Dell, WalMart, even ADP has jumped in recently.  But physicians and group practices buy individually and there's no clear favorite yet.  There is billions of dollars in the physician market. 

Having said that the larger market, almost 80% of the market Kalroama cites in its EMR market figure,  is in hospitals and there we see less of a 'gold rush' and more of a few key players in the industry - Cerner, GE Healthcare, Siemens dominant.  The only action that we see occurring in this multi-billion dollar marektis a few of the 5th, 6th and 7th position companies in the market like Epic or Allscripts may rise to top three and battle it out to become a larger player.  

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

HIV Testing Consent Relaxation - A Bid to Increase Volume

A Boston Globe article details how Massachusetts, one of the few states requiring a patient's written consent to perform an HIV test, is  considering dropping the requirement.  Such consent notices limit the amount of tests performed.  San Francisco eliminated the restriction in 2006 and saw testing increase from 13.5 per 1,000 patient visits to 18 tests per 1,000 patient visits. 

A proposal to change how people give consent for HIV tests has divided AIDS advocacy groups in Massachusetts and upset major medical organizations, stymieing legislators trying to bring the state into compliance with federal recommendations aimed at promoting more testing.
 
At issue is a bill that would drop Massachusetts’ requirement for specific written patient consent before a doctor tests for the AIDS virus - something 48 other states have done - and replace that with verbal consent. The measure would also require the physician note in the medical record the patient’s decision.

 Beckman Coulter, Becton Dickinson and Roche are among the companies producing HIV tests.