The health IT industry is abuzz with rumors that athenahealth could sell itself after Elliot Management made an unsolicited bid for the EHR vendor in early May worth almost $7 billion — but Elliott Management may not be the only prospective buyer, according to Albany, N.Y.-based Alliance for Better Health CEO Jacob Reider, MD.
In a June 8 blog post, Dr. Reider identified four companies "rumored to be in the mix to acquire athenahealth" but won't:
1. Apple. Simply put: The iPhone-maker doesn't do "verticals," Dr. Reider argues.
2. Cerner. The North Kansas City, Mo.-based EHR vendor has too much work with the Defense Department and Veterans Department to consider buying athenahealth.
3. Microsoft. There is too much disconnect between product-driven companies like Microsoft and those that must understand the business problems of healthcare like an EHR vendor.
4. Salesforce. Although Salesforce buys into the idea of a platform versus a product — the same idea athenahealth has been focusing on — the digital solutions company has struggled to break into healthcare.
Dr. Reider also identified five companies that could acquire athenahealth, including:
1. Philips.
2. Roper/Strata Decision.
3. Amazon.
4. Value Act.
5. IBM.
Click here to read Dr. Reider's complete blog post.
More articles on EHRs:
NYT: How this pediatrician used EHR data to unveil the Flint water crisis
EHR vendors stock report: Week of June 4-8
'Future of patient health records is not merely electronic,' Epic exec says