The Electronic Medical Records (EMR) movement was kicked into gear by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act seven years ago because, two years later, it was joined by the legal mandate for health practitioners to move to an electronic records management protocol.
But, here we are, five years later, and the space is still in the stone ages. So, we know it has to happen. But investors may struggle to understand how to capitalize on the opportunity along the way.
RNR Market Research sees the hospital EMR market alone growing at 8.8% annually and from $12 billion in 2018 to $18.3 billion by 2023. The market experts at WiseGuyReports.com are forecasting the broader EMR/EHR (electronic health record) industry to climb from $70 billion in 2016 to $120 billion in 2023.
Today, we’re going to look at three stocks that carry the capacity to capitalize on this huge market opportunity: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDRX), HealthLynked Corp. (OTCQB:HLYK), and Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN)
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDRX) frames itself as a company that provides information technology solutions and services to healthcare organizations in the United States, Canada, and internationally.
It offers electronic health records (EHR), connectivity, private cloud hosting, outsourcing, analytics, patient engagement, clinical decision support, and population health management solutions. The company operates in two segments, Clinical and Financial Solutions and Population Health.
The Clinical and Financial Solutions segment provides integrated clinical software applications and financial and information solutions, which primarily include EHR-related software, connectivity and coordinated care solutions, and financial and practice management software solutions, as well as related installation, support and maintenance, outsourcing, private cloud hosting, revenue cycle management, training, and electronic claims administration services.
The Population Health segment offers health management, and financial management and patient engagement solutions to hospitals, health systems, accountable care organizations, and other care facilities. The company serves physicians, hospitals, governments, health systems, health plans, life-sciences companies, retail clinics, retail pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, insurance companies, and employer wellness clinics, as well as post-acute organizations, such as home health and hospice agencies.
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDRX) generated sales of $444.5M, according to information released in the company’s most recent quarterly financial report. That adds up to a sequential quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 2.9% on the top line. In addition, the company is battling some balance sheet hurdles, with cash levels struggling to keep up with current liabilities ($148.1M against $879.8M, respectively).
HealthLynked Corp. (OTCQB:HLYK) is a play on the explosive electronic medical records (EMR) market, which is a huge and growing opportunity. The company has developed technology that connects patients, doctors, and data. But it isn’t meant to replace the EMR provider technology. It’s a value-added augmentation that enables a smoother path to developing a viable EMR marketplace. This is a cloud services play that is both patient-facing and doctor-facing to enable better communication for all sides and lubricate the wheels of the medical recordkeeping process.
HLYK’s CEO took his first startup, NeoGenomics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEO) from $0.05 per share to around $13.00 per share with a $1 billion+ market capitalization before exiting stage right. In other words, HLYK leadership understands how to build success in business: Dr. Michael Dent, has had huge success and proven himself to be an execution specialist, taking NeoGenomics – a Nasdaq listed company – to billion-dollar market-cap status, driving the stock up as much as 25,900% before stepping aside with his exit.
NEO has continued to thrive, with a current market cap of $2 billion today. That company was built by a talented group, some of whom have joined him at HealthLynked, including Bob Gasparini, former President of NEO.
The goal is to repeat that level of success with HLYK. If anything, HLYK is an easier proposition, given the massive market opportunity involved in the EMR/EHR space.
According to company filings, it’s working: For the three months ended June 30, 2019, the company reported tremendous year-over-year gains, including a 113% increase in revenue in Q2’19 compared to Q2’18, a 13% jump in patient appointments (from 4,010 in Q2’18 to 4,533 in Q2’19), and a 426% jump in “Time of Service” collections (from $152,174 in Q2’18 to $801,067 in Q2’19). The company’s sequential quarterly growth was also powerful, with a 160% increase in revenue to $1,208,390 in Q2’19 compared to $464,990 in Q1’19, a 22% jump in patient appts (from 3,712 in Q1’19 to 4,533 in Q2’19), and a 526% jump in “Time of Service” (from $127,809 in Q1’19 to $801,067 in Q2’19).
Dr. Michael Dent, Chairman and CEO of HealthLynked, stated, “We are extremely excited about this quarter’s revenue growth and improved cash flow from collections at time of service. As we optimize our health service subsidiaries, we expect continued revenue growth in the quarters to come. We’ve submitted patents for our new ‘Qwik Check’ Patient Check-in System, part of our Practice Optimization suite that includes encrypted WiFi and practice analytics, which was met with enthusiastic reviews among healthcare professionals at Florida Medical Association FMA Conference in Orlando, Florida. As we deploy this product into the market we expect to accelerate the number of in-network providers, which will provide an effective way to grow our patient membership. The FMA Conference yielded an additional 100 physicians to the HLYK network, and interest in joining the HealthLynked Network was expressed by providers across all specialties and practice venues. Our network and practice optimization tools will help bring significant value and improve care management as we pursue additional acquisitions with a focus on Accountable Care Organizations.”
Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) trumpets itself a company that provides health care information technology solutions and tech-enabled services in the United States and internationally.
Shares of the stock have been in consolidation mode, but in the context of a very clear growth trend that shows up on the chart, with the stock now trading well above its major moving averages.
The company offers Cerner Millennium architecture, a person-centric computing framework, which includes clinical, financial, and management information systems that allow providers to access an individual’s electronic health record (EHR) at the point of care, and organizes and delivers information for physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, front- and back-office professionals, and consumers.
It also provides HealtheIntent platform, a cloud-based platform to aggregate, transform, and reconcile data across the continuum of care; and EHR agnostic platform, CareAware that facilitates connectivity of health care devices to EHRs.
In addition, the company offers a portfolio of clinical and financial health care information technology solutions, as well as departmental, connectivity, population health, and care coordination solutions.
Further, it provides tech-enabled services, such as implementation and training, remote hosting, operational management services, revenue cycle services, support and maintenance, health care data analysis, clinical process optimization, transaction processing, employer health centers, employee wellness programs, and third-party administrator services; and complementary hardware and devices for third parties.
The company serves integrated delivery networks, physician groups and networks, managed care organizations, hospitals, medical centers, reference laboratories, home health agencies, blood banks, imaging centers, pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, employers, governments and public health organizations. It has a strategic collaboration with Christiana Care Health System to provide a weight loss surgery program.Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) generated sales of $1.4B, according to information released in the company’s most recent quarterly financial report. That adds up to a sequential quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 3% on the top line. In addition, the company is battling some balance sheet hurdles, with cash levels struggling to keep up with current liabilities ($953.5M against $1B, respectively).
