Misys Group Plc, the UK’s biggest software company has signed an alliance between its US healthcare subsidiary Medic Computer Systems and healthcare e-commerce specialist Healtheon Corp that enables the 65,000 physicians in the US who use Misys practice management software to check patientsÆ insurance eligibility via the web. The doctors currently have to telephone insurance companies to check policies before they can perform operations.
Misys will also gain a connection to the internet healthcare superpower created by the merger on Wednesday between WebMD and Healtheon (see separate story). Misys has signed a memo of understanding for Medic to take an equity stake in Healtheon which will give it just under 3% of the new firm after a four-year period.
The US healthcare market is worth $1.2 trillion a year, according to Healtheon, and estimates that $250bn of that represents wastage in terms of time and paperwork used for simple tasks like insurance eligibility checking. This represents a massive market for Misys, and other IT companies have also shown interest, as Intel, Microsoft, Excite and McKesson, another practice management company, have joined Dupont Chemicals in investing in the WebMD-Healtheon combination.
MisysÆ 65,000 physicians, 10% of the total in the US, will be able to make electronic prescriptions, once the 11,000 Misys systems have been web-enabled. The next step, says a Misys spokesperson, is to increase the range of services that the portal can provide, such as performing clinical transactions like lab test orders, referrals and bidding. The market reacted strongly to the announcement, as Misys shares closed up 14.73% on the London Stock Exchange.
