As hospitals slowly figure out how to make new digital health records work, companies that sell the systems are raking in the profits. Since the passage of the economic stimulus bill in 2009 that included health records legislation, large companies that lobbied for the provision have been hugely successful.
Opinion on the records systems themselves is split. Fans of the digitization argue that the system makes it easier to prescribe medications electronically and will end up saving hospitals money and improving care. Detractors, however, say that the systems are difficult to use, do not share information with other systems, and can increase the time doctors spend doing documentation that could otherwise be used with patients.
Factoring companies or brokers who deal with the medical industry should take notice of this new trend, as change in any industry has cash flow implications across the board.
For the full article, see A Digital Shift on Health Data Swells Profits in an Industry