In an effort to provide greater flexibility to health care
customers,
Walgreen
(
WAG
) recently started installing WellHealth EHR, the electronic health
record (EHR) solution from
Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.
(
GWAY
), a player in the health care information technology (HCIT)
market. The drug retail giant has already deployed the EHR in over
200 of its stores and plans to introduce it across 8,000 locations
by the summer of next year.
As a part of Walgreen's HealthCloud initiative, the EHR solution
will help the company transform its traditional drugstores to
health and daily living destinations. Working as a single patient
view of Walgreen, the WellHealth EHR will provide the latest
patient immunization and health testing information, along with
pharmacy information irrespective of where the patient received the
service. The two parties entered into a partnership in 2010 when
Walgreen first deployed Greenway's PrimeSuite in Walgreen's
worksite health centers for primary and acute care.
With the recent verdict of the Supreme Court upholding the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) (also
known as Obamacare), the U.S. health care industry is making an
all-out effort to rope in hospitals, doctors, pharmacists and
others through the EHR and electronic medical records (EMRs).
The recent data shows that the number of hospitals using health
information technology (IT) has more than doubled in the last two
years. Moreover, nearly 2,000 hospitals and more than 41,000
doctors have received $3.1 billion in incentive payments for
ensuring 'Meaningful Use' of health IT, particularly, certified
EHR. The incentives will be offered for a period of 4-5 years,
after which physicians will be penalized for not adopting proper
measures.
Notably, "Meaningful Use" is a criterion specified under the EHR
incentive program, which is designed to stimulate the use of
technology in healthcare. Funded by the HITECH Act, the program
enables providers to adopt EHR and meet Meaningful Use needs in
order to earn reimbursements and avoid Medicare penalties.
We believe that Walgreen is well placed to gain a meaningful
share of the multi-billion dollar American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-related healthcare information technology
investment opportunity. We have a long-term Neutral recommendation
on Walgreen. The stock currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which
translates into a short-term Hold rating.
GREENWAY MEDICL (GWAY): Free Stock Analysis
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