Athenahealth, Healthcare IT Sector Show Strong Growth

According to a report released earlier this year, the U.S. Electronic Health and Medical Records 2009-2015 – Meaningful Use Spending Forecast and Analysis, by IDC Health Insights the electronic health record (EHR) market was estimated to be worth $1.98 billion in 2009. These projections cover software license and maintenance costs for products that meet meaningful use certification criteria. The market is projected to grow to $3.8 billion by the year 2015, translating to a growth rate of 11.5% annually. The report estimates the ambulatory electronic records software spending by providers to grow to $1.41 billion by 2015 from $0.64 billion in 2009. The inpatient EHR software market is projected to grow to $2.4 billion by 2015 from $1.34 billion in 2009. Recently announced results by athenahealth reflected such positive sentiment.

Athenahealth’s Financials
Athenahealth (NASDAQ:ATHN) saw revenues grow 28% over the year to $69.9 million, compared with the market’s estimate of $69 million. By segments, Business Services revenues grew 28% to $67.5 million and Implementation and Other revenues also grew 28% over the year to $2.4 million. EPS of $0.10 was also higher than the Street’s projected $0.06.

Athena’s Continued Alliances
Athena has been focusing on building their market presence through partnerships with other technology and medical services providers to release new products and support patient-centered care. Earlier this year, they  tied up with Microsoft to offer an electronic health solution in the industry. The alliance will help strengthen connectivity and communication between hospitals, physicians and patients by connecting athenahealth’s centrally hosted, Web-based services, athenaClinicals and athenaCollector, with Microsoft Amalga, an enterprise health intelligence platform.

They also announced a strategic alliance with SynerMed, Inc., a leading government-program-focused managed services organization. The two players will work together to jointly offer athenahealth’s EHR services, athenaClinicals, to SynerMed’s physician network of more than 7,000 providers throughout California. Additionally, the company’s athenaCollector will help support SynerMed’s creation of a health information exchange that will enable exchange of patient and financial information among SynerMed’s affiliated and community physician members.

Athenahealth’s stock is currently trading at $41.08 with a market capitalization of $1.43 billion. In February of this year, it touched a new 52-week high of $50.56.