Given that this has been my first year at Healthcare Informatics, I truly had no idea what to expect back in February, when we first started putting together this year’s HCI 100 list. The list is a comprehensive look at the top 100 revenue-earning companies in the industry, with any company that can identify HIT-based revenues being eligible to participate. With this in mind, I knew putting it together wouldn’t be a walk in the park for any of us. It is only now – as we officially release the 2012 HCI 100 for all to see – that I can appreciate the work that was done to get here.
All the credit in the world goes out to our colleagues at Porter Research and ST Advisors, specifically Ben Rooks, Cynthia Porter, and Cameron Pratt, three people who were knee-deep in the HCI 100 for the last few months. Also, thanks to every company that submitted (approximately 120 in all), we appreciate your assistance in bringing this list together. On a personal level, I’d like to thank my colleagues Mark Hagland, John DeGaspari, Jennifer Prestigiacomo, and Charlene Marietti, all of whom gently helped to integrate me into the HCI 100 process.
So here are we are. The list itself in a lot of ways is pretty self-explanatory, and I urge you to check it out if you haven’t already. McKesson, for the fifth year in a row, is at the top. However, the intrigue doesn’t end there. I thought it would be fun to break the list down into a few fun categories. Please note that this is fairly unscientific, and meant for your amusement more than anything.
States:
Proud to say that my home state, Massachusetts, is the unofficial health IT hub, with 15 different companies represented on the list. The highest-ranked is the Andover-based Philips, coming in at number 4. Also representing the Bay State are NTT Data, EMC Corporation, Meditech, Nuance, InterSystems, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Kronos, Enterasys, Navinet, Beacon Partners, Iatric Systems, HealthcareSource, and concluding the Massachusetts list at number 98 is Arcadia Solutions.
Other states with a large number of companies represented were California (10), Georgia (7), Virginia (6), and Tennessee (6). Overall, there were 26 states represented, plus the District of Columbia, and two international representatives (GE Healthcare, officially based in the U.K., and TELUS Health Solutions, out of Quebec).
Big Movers:
We had a few big movers from last year until this year. Cognizant, a Teaneck, N.J. provider of consulting and IT services, and Allscripts, a Chicago-based EHR and revenue cycle vendor, both made moves in the Top 10. Cognizant jumped from number 10 to number 6, while Allscripts leaped into the top 10 going from number 13 to number 9.
Other big jumpers were Merge Healthcare (48 to 35), athenahealth (38 to 31), Science Applications International (29 to 17), maxIT healthcare (55 to 41), Syntel (63 to 52), and the biggest: Amcom Software (84 to 49), which benefited from an acquisition by USA Mobility. We also had a few companies debut on the list including Northrop Grumman Corp. (26), NetApp (32), eClinicalWorks (38), IOD Inc. (61), and Enterasys (63), as well as many others. Overall, we welcomed 14 new companies to the list this year.
Company Types:
Across the healthcare IT vendor spectrum, we have a good mix of companies on the HCI 100. Approximately 39 companies say services are their primary source of revenue, with 16 of them saying it is their only source of revenue. Thirty six companies say software is their primary source, with eight saying it’s their only source of revenue. Most companies offer a combination of both software and services, and a few offer hardware solutions as well.
A look at the company descriptions on the list finds that many of the important issues facing healthcare IT leaders are represented on this list. For instance, five different companies specifically mentioned services or software related to the ICD-10 migration in their description. There are several vendors that offer electronic health records, clinical decision support systems, population health management solutions, and much more.
Odds and Ends:
In the category of something only I may find interesting, the late 1990s was apparently a particular birthing period for health IT. From our list, in 1998 and 1999, 16 companies were formed, eight in each year.
The range of revenue on the HCI 100 went from approximately $24 million to $3.28 billion.
The split between public and private companies was nearly an even one. By my count, 42 are public, while 58 are private. It was a similar number last year. The largest private company is Optum, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based technology, business, and clinical analytics firm.
Not many companies reported acquisitions this year, with only 28 doing so.
Thanks for checking out the HCI 100; I hope you enjoyed reading it!
