Major IT players betting big on Healthcare

Every time I come back from HIMSS I see a new crop or the old wine in new bottle betting big on healthcare. This year was no exception.

I would watch out for the following companies

Tier 1 Technology Vendors

• Microsoft - Have yet to get their model right, but with the focus they can make it big
• Sun Microsystems - With plans of making SeeBeyond open source - they could disrupt the market
• Cisco - A pure technology player having a CMO? Yes its true - should I say any more?
• Oracle - Looks like they are out to root Lawson
• Business Objects - wants to be a leader in analytics

Tier 1 consulting vendors

• IBM - Big blue, big boy and will try to stay in the race - Clinical, IT, Outsourcing
• Accenture - NHS has been a blow but who cares they still are a force in US
• KPMG - Strong practice in the Providers, watch out they may have a trick or two out of thier hat
• First consulting group - is their demise near? loosing ground to compeition on rates and scale, thier offshore operations have not been able to scale.

Tier 1 Offshore vendors

• Wipro - Lots of focus and investment in Healthcare, betting big on IT,Outsourcing, Clinical given their clinical,IT strengths
• HCL - It their booth size were to tell something - they have had a good last year
• Infosys - Missing in action at HIMSS? Not sure if Healthcare is still a focus and growth area of them.

Trends I see to watch out for

• Niche deals in Healthcare analytics space - Reporting, modelling etc
• Outsourcing of Provider infrastructure to offshore companies
• EMR implementation deals - will still continue
• Application maintenance and support outsourcing
• Customers wanting vendor skin in the game in deals - investments, risk sharing etc.
• Consumerism - payers adopting the retail model to interact with individuals

In a nutshell, the inustry is going to adopt IT and its outsourcing practices the way Retail/Manuf industries did in the 90's. The hype and hoopla around HIPAA, Security and Privacy are cooling down.