Definition

Allscripts

Allscripts is a vendor of electronic health record systems for physician practices, hospitals and healthcare systems.

The Chicago-based company, formerly named Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc., and now officially Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., was created in 2008 with the merger of part of Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. and Misys Healthcare Systems LLC of London.

The publicly traded company started in 1986 by selling prepackaged medications for physicians to dispense at the point of care. The company unveiled its first software product, an e-prescribing system, in 1998. With acquisitions in 2001, 2006 and 2008, Allscripts added EHR systems, practice management and care management systems.

Misys, meanwhile, brought its practice management software to the U.S. in the late 1990s, and added home health and revenue cycle management systems after acquisitions in 2002 and 2005.

Allscripts EHR systems

Allscripts now develops and sells software and services to various types of healthcare providers.


A walkthrough of how to work
with tasks in Allscripts' EHR
system
  • For small and medium-sized physician practices, the company offers Allscripts Professional EHR.
  • For large physician practices, Allscripts offers Allscripts TouchWorks.
  • For hospitals and health systems, Allscripts provides the Allscripts Sunrise EHR, which includes modules for emergency room, surgery, wound care, lab systems and ambulatory clinics.
  • Allscripts' patient portal is called Allscripts FollowMyHealth.
  • Allscripts also sells a platform for population health and value-based care, Allscripts CareInMotion.
  • The company also provides revenue cycle management services and integrates its EHRs with various third-party practice management systems.
  • Through its subsidiary, 2bPrecise, Allscripts offers precision medicine software tools, including a machine language-based knowledge system for oncology, clinical decision support and database modules.
  • Allscripts also offers a variety of consulting services to hospitals and health systems for workflow optimization, best practices, medical education, infrastructure migrations, application management, and managed IT services and hosting.

Allscripts e-prescribing

Allscripts' ePrescribe line of electronic prescribing systems for physicians integrates with Allscripts EHRs, as well as EHRs from other vendors. Its capabilities include controlled substance e-prescribing, electronic prior authorization, patient access services for specialty drugs, and medication adherence support tools, according to the company.

Allscripts' competitors

The company's main competitors are Epic Systems Corp., Cerner Corp. and Meditech, all of which develop and sell EHRs for large health systems and hospitals, as well as physician practices.

In the ambulatory market, Allscripts also vies with AthenaHealth, eClinicalWorks, Greenway, eMDs, NextGen and other vendors.

In August 2017, Allscripts bought McKesson Corp.'s EHR technology, known as Paragon, for $185 million. In doing so, it picked up McKesson's hospital EHR customers. With McKesson out of the EHR market, Allscripts is third among the top hospital-oriented EHR vendors in terms of revenue, following Cerner and Epic, and ahead of Meditech. Allscripts reported $1.5 billion in revenue in 2016.

Allscripts' business

According to Allscripts, its software is used by 180,000 physicians; 45,000 physician practices; 19,000 post-acute agencies; 2,500 hospitals; 100,000 electronic prescribing physicians; and 40,000 in-home clinicians. Also, the company says 7.2 million patients use the FollowMyHealth patient portal.

In 2015, Allscripts bought a 10% equity stake in NantHealth Inc., a genomics software vendor founded by Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., for $200 million in cash. In exchange for the Allscripts stock purchase, Soon-Shiong invested $100 million in Allscripts. In August 2017, the company also acquired NantHealth's patient engagement technology, using 15 million shares of its NantHealth stock. 

This was last updated in August 2017

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