For solution providers and resellers looking to take advantage of the
approximately $17 billion in economic stimulus funds that will be available to
help physicians purchase and implement electronic medical records, the road
hasn’t necessarily been an easy one.
There are plenty of vendors that offer EMR
technology, but VARs have complained that those vendors aren’t necessarily
channel-friendly. Some don’t have channel programs, and others require upfront
payments for an initial bundle of licenses before the VAR
even gets started. It’s enough to turn many away from what looks like a game
for the big guys.
But Lester Keizer, CEO of Las Vegas-based
MSP Connecting Point, has a different perspective. That’s because Keizer
spent much of his career not as an MSP but rather working in business
development for companies that developed technology for the health care
industry. He only came on board as an MSP about four years ago.
Having worked both sides of the street, Keizer enjoys a
bigger picture perspective of the opportunities available for VARs when it
comes to the economic stimulus package—health care and EMR
in particular.
“The incentives don’t begin until next year, so we have six months to begin
developing those relationships with physicians and hospitals,” Keizer
says. “There’s only a 5 percent penetration rate of doctors who have EMR.
“It’s a fabulous opportunity. Not very many VARs know this, and they should be
getting out there. The key is to partner with a company that can provide
turnkey compliance and workflow efficiency in an EMR
solution,” he says.
Keizer points out that even smaller solution providers
will find fertile markets out there. He suggests physician practices with 10 or
fewer doctors and small hospitals in rural areas that have 25 or fewer beds. Keizer
says that these health care providers get special breaks from the government
because of their small size in addition to benefiting from funds for EMR.
“This will be a space that the average VAR
can play in,” says Keizer. “At the end of the day, they
need to sell themselves not as selling the technology but as helping with
compliance and work force efficiency.”
And Keizer says that his company, Connecting Point, has
been working with one EMR provider in
particular because it has taken an early position to be channel-friendly.
Chicago-based Allscripts announced a distribution partnership with Synnex in
June to help sell EMR technology through the
technology reseller channel.
The deal calls for Synnex to leverage its existing IT distribution capabilities
in the health care market to accelerate adoption of Allscripts MyWay EHR (electronic
health records).
"To qualify for the maximum amount of federal incentives, physicians must
have an electronic health record in place and must be using it in their
everyday practice as soon as possible," Glen Tullman, Allscripts’ CEO,
said in the prepared statement announcing the Synnex deal.
Allscripts counts among its end customers 150,000 physicians, 700 hospitals and
nearly 7,000 post-acute and home care organizations. Solutions include
electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue cycle management,
practice management, document management, medication services, hospital care
management, emergency department information systems and home care automation.
Keizer says the program is very channel friendly and
go-to-market friendly, with no barriers to entry that force commitments to
up-front license purchases. In addition, Allscripts will work with the 10 and
under physician space.
“These small critical care access hospitals—there are about 1,300 of them
nationwide—this is a space that I can play in and none of the big technology
companies or providers pays too much attention to it yet,” says Keizer.
“If VARs can get their relationships going now, they will be in the right
place.”