Consulting and outsourcing company
Accenture Plc.
(
ACN
) has recently won a five-year contract from the Norwegian
Directorate of Health. According to the contract, Accenture is
supposed to set up Norway's electronic health record (EHR)
system. The new system will be implemented soon and will
provide Norwegian medical practitioners and patients a fully
integrated and updated record of health information.
According to the terms of this agreement, the Norwegian
Directorate of Health, along with Accenture will help in deploying
a single, national EHR system which will ultimately help medical
professionals to organize and view the medical records of patients
across Norway. The database will include information related to
demographics, clinical history, physician interactions, diagnostic
assessments, medications, procedures and patient interaction.
We are encouraged by Accenture's recent progress in the
healthcare segment, as the new reform measures adopted by the U.S.
health department are pushing many healthcare providers toward the
electronic health records (EHR) segment.
This should have a positive impact on Accenture in the near to
medium term and also generate new business opportunities for the
company. Other technology companies, such as
Hewlett Packard Company
(
HPQ
) and
Dell Inc.
(
DELL
) have also realized the potential in this segment and are coming
out with their own solutions to tap the opportunity.
Again, the North American market specially provides ample
opportunity for growth. Market research firm TechNavio's analysts
forecasted that the Electronic Health Record (EHR) market in North
America would increase at a CAGR of 7.85% over the period
2011-2015.
Apart from the EHR and consulting business, Accenture witnessed
strength in its Outsourcing domain during the third quarter of
2012, which saw the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit
growth. Moreover, the company is also seeing an expansion in the
European market as outsourcing deals increased in the region.
Outsourcing business is gradually improving, which is expected to
continue in the near future.
We are encouraged by the steady flow of new businesses and
believe that the trend will continue. However, increasing
competition from
IBM Corp.
(
IBM
) and a cautious spending environment may curb its growth prospects
to some extent.
The company has a Zacks #2 Rank, implying a short-term Buy
rating.
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