Vendors Report 1Q Results

Several publicly held health information technology vendors have recently announced their financial performance for the first quarter of 2011. Among them:

* Cerner Corp. saw first quarter net income increase 28 percent to $64.6 million as revenue rose 14 percent to $491.7 million. Adjusted earnings per share of 80 cents beat investment analysts' expectations by 4 cents.

* Net income at community hospital vendor Computer Programs and Systems Inc. increased 84 percent, to $5.4 million compared with the same period last year, as revenue grew 28 percent to $40.4 million. The company expects second quarter net income of $5.7 million to $6.1 million on revenue of $42 million to $45 million.

* Physician billing services and practice management/electronic health records software vendor athenahealth Inc. reports net income of $3.3 million, compared with $277,000 in profit during the first quarter of 2010. Revenue increased 28 percent to $69.9 million, the 45th consecutive quarter of growth. As of March 31, 4,161 providers including 2,910 physicians were using the vendor's electronic health records software. That compares with 1,867 providers including 1,275 physicians a year earlier.

* First quarter net income for online education vendor HealthStream Inc. rose 89 percent to $1.5 million compared with a year ago. Revenue increased 25 percent to $18.5 million.

--Joseph Goedert