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February 2005
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eHealth Insider February 2005; Volume 6, Number 2
BCBS-MA ends EDI exclusive...BCBS-FL pays $30 per web visit...Harvard deals blow to Perot...WebMD buys HealthShare...WebMD raises ’05 profit outlook...Per-Se boosts pretax income...Per-Se initiates share repurchase...Quovadx trims 4Q04 loss...Allscripts boosts 4Q04 net...Adam 4Q04 net soars...HealthGrades swings to profit...HealthGrades makes acquisition...Drugstore.com raises $26 million...NDC retains Blackstone Group...eHealth services stocks rise 2%...Sierra picks Zix for e-mail...Medco in e-script initiative...Study shows e-prescribing works...and more...
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BCBS-MA ENDS WEBMD EXCLUSIVE FOR EDI
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Boston) ended its exclusive arrangement with WebMD (Elmwood Park, NJ) for electronic data interchange transactions last month, Carl Ascenzo, chief information officer, told EHI.
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BCBS-FL PAYS DOCS $30 PER ONLINE VISIT
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (Jacksonville, FL) is paying physicians $30 for an electronic office visit conducted through secure communications technology provided by RelayHealth (Emeryville, CA), according to Robert Foster, M.D., chief medical information officer.
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HARVARD PILGRIM DEALS BLOW TO PEROT
Harvard Pilgrim Heath Care (Wellesley, MA) will end its information technology outsourcing arrangement with Perot Systems (Plano, TX) and instead will phase in a transaction processing platform from UnitedHealth Group over the next three years, Perot announced.
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WEBMD BUYS HEALTHSHARE FOR $31 MM
Coming off strong fourth-quarter 2004 financial results (see story, this issue), WebMD (Elmwood Park, NJ) announced the acquisition of HealthShare Technology for $31 million in cash, plus up to $5 million if certain 2005 financial goals are met.
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SIERRA PICKS ZIX FOR SECURE E-MAIL
Sierra Health Services (Las Vegas, NV) has signed a three-year contract with Zix Corp. (Dallas), which will provide Sierra’s 3000 employees with HIPAA-compliant secure e-messaging technology.
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MEDCO JOINS BIG 3 AUTO IN E-PRESCRIBING INITIATIVE
Medco Health Solutions (Franklin Lakes, NJ) hopes to equip up to 17,000 physicians with e-prescribing technology as part of a trial spearheaded by General Motors, Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler.
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MEDCO STUDY SHOWS E-PRESCRIBING WORKS
Medco Health Solutions (Franklin Lakes, NJ) found that physicians using e-prescribing technology increased their generic substitution rates by more than 15% and their generic dispensing rates by more than 8%.
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WEBMD RAISES 1Q05 PROFIT OUTLOOK
WebMD (Elmwood Park, NJ) announced that it expects first-quarter 2005 net income of $0.02 to $0.03 per share ($6.7 million to $10 million based on 333.6 million diluted shares), up from a prior expectation of $0.01 to $0.02 per share.
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PER-SE BOOSTS 4Q04 PRETAX INCOME 4%
Per-Se Technologies (Alpharetta, GA) posted fourth-quarter 2004 net income of $36.027 million, up 449%, largely because of a non-cash tax benefit of $28.1 million related to the partial release the company’s deferred tax asset valuation allowance.
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PER-SE MAY REPURCHASE UP TO 3.3% OF SHARES
Separately, Per-Se has authorized the repurchase of up to 1 million shares of common stock, representing 3.3% of the company’s 30.4 million in total shares outstanding.
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QUOVADX TRIMS 4Q04 NET LOSS
Quovadx Inc. (Englewood, CO) reported a net loss of $1.945 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, compared to a net loss of $6.123 million in the same period a year earlier.
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ALLSCRIPTS BOOSTS 4Q04 NET TO $1.4 MILLION
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Libertyville, IL) reported fourth-quarter 2004 net income of $1.403 million, up more than 10-fold from the same period a year earlier, on revenues of $26.313 million, up 11%.
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ADAM BOOSTS 4Q04 NET
Adam Inc. (Atlanta) reported fourth-quarter net income of $676,000, a seven-fold increase from the same period a year earlier, on revenues of $2.471 million, up 42%. For the full year 2004, net income was $1.621 million on revenues of $8.433 million.
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HEALTHGRADES ACQUIRES COMPAREYOURCARE
HealthGrades (Lakewood, CO) has announced the acquisition of the CompareYourCare web-based decision-support tool from the not-for-profit Foundation for Accountability, which ceased operations last year.
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GHI ISSUES NEW ID NUMBERS TO MEMBERS
Group Health Inc. (New York) announced it has begun issuing new identification cards to more than 2 million members containing alternate ID numbers that aren’t based on a member’s social security number. GHI said it is making the move to help protect the privacy of its members. GHI serves a total of 2.6 million lives.
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NDCHEALTH RETAINS BLACKSTONE FOR POSSIBLE SALE
NDCHealth (Atlanta), which announced its intention to evaluate strategic options including the potential sale of the company (EHI, January), has retained The Blackstone Group (New York) to assist in the evaluation of strategic alternatives.
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