While the health care industry is set to expand, reform is another story, said Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth, a provider of Internet-based business services for doctors.
“If they [the government] actually prime the pump, by paying for the exchange of medical information, which is kind of the way it was designed, there will be real reform,” he said. “I’m still looking for that to work.”
(See the accompanying video for the complete interview.)
Large, integrated systems will be on the rise, said Bush, which explains why private practices are selling out to hospitals. Athenahealth , for instance, announced yesterday that it is acquiring Anodyne Health Partners for $22.3 million.
Anodyne Partners gives the company an entry-level product with billing and medical records for big enterprises, he said. Currently, a large proportion of the AthenaHealth’s growth stems from hospital systems that are adding doctors.
“They now need a way of reviewing their ranch,” he said. “The level of understanding of what’s going on in hospital-owned medical practices is poor. And what this does is it gets us in their with an entry level product that says ‘Hey, let’s start by giving you intelligence of what’s happening.’”
(Jonathan is a cousin of former President George W. Bush).
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