March 13th, 2009
Wal-Mart selling Windows health records
Wal-Mart is getting into the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) market, hoping to push small practices to buy a bundle it has put together with Dell and eClinicalWorks of Westborough, Mass.
It’s a Windows system, but it is also offered on a hosted basis.
An online demo available at the eClinicalWorks site emphasizes that this is a complete system, built for payments and pharmacy integration, with modules from the front office and back office, not just physicians.
The company has about 700 employees and recently signed big deals in New York, New Jersey, California and North Carolina.
The idea seems to be that eClinicalWorks will continue focusing on the big accounts that need integration services while Wal-Mart will focus on small practices that can pay for their gear partly with stimulus money.
The bundle will be sold exclusively through Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse stores, with prices starting at $25,000 ($10,000 for each additional doctor) and maintenance payments of about $5,000/year.
Wal-Mart made the move into distribution after trying out the software at its own in-store clinics and apparently being satisfied.
Our own James Urquhart says the company has missed a great opportunity to push a SaaS model. It’s true much of the software’s value is delivered via SaaS but the Sam’s Club bundle includes hardware many small practices lack and need.
The eClinicalWorks Web site touts its own SaaS offering, with prices starting at just $400/month for a full practice system.
In addition to pushing Windows hardware, eClinicalWorks emphasizes that it supports J2EE technologies and XML for data transfers.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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