2015 was a year of topping rankings and strategic growth for Allscripts, a Chicago-based health technology company.
Here are six of Allscripts' biggest stories in 2015.
1. In March, Black Book Market Research's user poll identified Allscripts as the No. 1 ranked EHR vendor for hospitals with more than 250 beds for the second year in a row. The poll gauges opinion on vendors and systems from the people who use them everyday, including EHR technology staff, nurses and IT leaders.
2. Additionally, the American Medical Association and MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare developed a scale to rate user-centered design of EHRs. Allscripts' Enterprise EHR and Sunrise Acute EHR filled the top two spots.
3. In October, Allscripts reorganized its leadership structure. CFO Rick Poulton was named president of the company in addition to his CFO duties. Allscripts also extended CEO Paul Black's employment agreement, which was set to expire in December 2015, but was extended through at least 2018.
4. NantHealth and Allscripts formed a strategic partnership totaling $300 million in investments. Allscripts purchased a 10 percent equity stake in NantHealth for $200 million cash, and NantCapital, the investment arm of NantHealth, invested $100 million in Allscripts.
5. Allscripts also made moves to extend its reach, both across the United States and around the world. The vendor signed a lease for a new office in Raleigh, N.C., which at 330,000 square feet is larger than its current 305,000-square-foot office space. The new building is expected to open in 2017. Additionally, Allscripts signed contracts with two hospitals in the United Kingdom to deploy its patient administration system.
6. However, the health technology company did cut 250 jobs in May, which is approximately 3.5 percent of its global workforce. Most of the jobs were in the United States, while a handful were overseas. Allscripts spokeswoman Concetta DiFranco told the Chicago Tribune "As a normal course of business, we are rebalancing our teams to ensure we have the right resources allocated to the right projects."
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