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Vendor Sees Opportunities in I.T. Donation Programs


By Joseph Goedert, News Editor October 2007
The Carrollton, Ga.-based physician software vendor started targeting its electronic health records software to hospitals that were interested in starting I.T. donation programs.

Greenway, betting that there were business opportunities with hospitals following the HHS ruling that I.T. donations were permitted under the Stark Act, dedicated a half-dozen sales personnel to the hospital market. "We've seen enough interest to launch an entire sales force, which is not cheap," says Tee Green, president.

After the Internal Revenue Service also gave its blessing in June by ruling I.T. donations would not jeopardize hospitals' not-for-profit tax status, Greenway saw some hospitals that were on the fence launch programs, Green says. "The Stark ruling raised interest, but the IRS ruling gave lawyers the ability to tell CFOs and CEOs, 'OK, go ahead.'"

Further, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology's start of its second year of certifying ambulatory EHRs fueled more phone calls from interested hospitals, he adds. "Some hospitals were waiting for the IRS ruling and second round of CCHIT to see how vendors would shake out."

That's why Greenway went for - and got - the first ambulatory certification under CCHIT's 2007 criteria. "It was important for the hospital strategy," Green explains. "CIOs may be hesitant to support EHRs not certified under 2007 criteria because of the expanded interoperability criteria."

By mid-summer, Greenway had signed I.T. donation contracts with six delivery systems comprising approximately 15 participating hospitals. Along with hospitals, the vendor also has started focusing on independent physician associations that are interested in setting up donation programs for their members.

The first three months of targeting IPAs netted two contracts. The IPAs will host Greenway's PrimeSuite EHR and offer it at a discount. More than 200 physicians now are live on the software through IPA donation programs, Green says.

Greenway Medical launched its integrated practice management/electronic health records software in 2003. Only now are sizable numbers of physicians ready for EHRs as they become more aware of the business side of their practices and software products mature, Green contends. "Three years ago, doctors just heard horror stories about EHRs," he notes. "Today, the industry has thousands of success stories."

Even the smallest practices are facing forces-consumerism and the need to practice evidence-based medicine and exchange data with other providers-that are pushing them toward electronic health records, Green contends. "Our physicians have never had to deal with customers; they've dealt with patients," he adds.

Consequently, the vendor in the past 18 months has introduced a patient Web portal with personal health records software and a data exchange platform. It also plans in late 2007 to release a research module that will give physicians online access to clinical trials, evidence-based treatment guidelines and alerts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from within the EHR.

Free Apps with a Catch

To attract practices that simply can't afford Greenway's software, the company in early 2006 started offering an outsourced revenue cycle management service that includes free practice management and EHR applications.

Under the program, Greenway remotely hosts the software and manages the practices' billing and collections, receiving a certain percentage of a client's gross revenue. The company has nearly 100 practices as clients, served by about a dozen employees.

Greenway can get away with a small workforce handling those accounts because the information to create bills and claims, and reconcile payments, already is in the practice management and EHR systems it hosts, Green says.

There always will be opportunities for outsourced financial services, he contends. "I believe there's a third of physicians who will always outsource revenue cycle management, one-third who will never do it and one-third who will go back and forth."

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