With the global recession now in the rear view mirror, life science companies are slowly shifting their primary cost-cutting focus back toward long-term top-line growth. Manufacturing and supply chain strategies are not only a critical component of maintaining lower-costs, but they also hold the key to reducing corporate liability, protecting brand equity and optimizing operational efficiency going forward. A key piece of this effort includes IT outsourcing, and all fingers point to continued growth in this market.

TriZetto, with a large technology footprint in the US healthcare payer commercial market, announced on July 15 a new CEO to fill the position previously held by Jeff Margolis.  What makes this announcement unique is the selection, Trace Devanny.  Trace, a 20 year veteran in healthcare informatics comes to TriZetto from Cerner Corporation, where he "oversaw the company's operations in more than 25 countries."  According to TriZetto, Trace's extensive experience in the provider market is expected to support and contribute to TriZetto's vision of its Integrated Health Management Strategy.

Yesterday morning I noticed the announcement that a new patent that had been awarded to athenahealth, for the "Automated Configuration of Medical Practice Management Systems."  While I'll admit that I have not read the patent document in detail, a scan of the document reveals that the patented process includes steps for gathering information about a practice and configuring a billing system remotely that are apparently in use by athenahealth in the implementation of athenaCollector.  Remote configuration is available for many applications in many industries, from many vendors,  including other practice management and EMR vendors in healthcare.  The patent reminds me of a similar patent issued to an early implementor of internet-based electronic data capture in life science,  and seems just as likely to divert vendors and stifle innovation. 

On June 9, 2010, the $1.3 billion acquisition of Eclipsys Corporation by Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. was announced.  Eclipsys is a vendor of primarily inpatient, but also ambulatory EMRs, while Allscripts has focused on the ambulatory market exclusively.  In thinking about the upcoming  merger, the ambulatory EMR picture just sounded really confusing.  While we published a Perspective report last week covering what we feel will be the implications of the merger for hospitals and practices using Eclipsys and Allscripts products, we found that listing and counting the ambulatory EMRs started to make the picture (and the potential issues for end users) a little clearer.