Electronic Medical Records: VAR Opportunities Grow to a Trickle

When the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was passed, the
technology industry was quick to identify opportunities to participate.

One of the big ones was an estimated $18 billion in economic stimulus
funds for electronic medical records (EMR) at physician’s offices and
hospitals. The problem for the reseller channel was that vendors who offered such technology didn’t sell through the channel.

But with the hugeness of the opportunity, some of these EMR vendors
found that they needed to hop aboard the channel bandwagon, and while
many doors are still closed, indeed a few opportunities have opened up
for VARs.

Here’s a quick look:

• Allscripts, through a partnership with IT distributor Synnex.
• Ingram Micro said it would announce a partnership with an EMR vendor. Originally planned for November, the deal is now set to be announced in January.
• IBM Global Financing said it would provide the money so that end-customer companies could buy the technology today, even if they were still waiting for their stimulus dollars.