Both Candidates Are Bullish on Health IT (MDRX, rated BUY)

October 16, 2008

Both Candidates Are Bullish on Health IT

Both candidates in the upcoming election are bullish on Health IT spending as part of their healthcare reform proposals, with an estimated savings of $88B to the country over 10 years. However, details of these plans are lacking; although Obama’s proposal would include a $50B investment in Health IT, divided evenly over a five-year period. The accompanying table presents an overview of the ETFI Global Health IT Index, which includes a total of 38 companies.

Trends in favor of Health IT include a push toward electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), reduction of paperwork, remote patient monitoring technologies, and plans by both candidates for significant investment in the industry. Zix Corp (ZIXI) and Allscripts (MDRX) provide e-prescribing technologies, which have pending legislation in the House and Senate to provide financial incentives to promote the adoption of the technology. Other recent deals in the industry include the recently completed Allscripts-Misys Healthcare merger, GE Healthcare’s bid for Vital Signs (VITL), and Philip’s (PHG) purchase of remote patient monitoring company VisICU last year.

Both Candidates Are Bullish on Health IT (MDRX, rated BUY)

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