8/19 08:01 EST
对于一家旨在由医师纸张病历卡转变为电子系统记录和处理过程的企业来说，变革往往是件好事。Quality Systems(代號:QSII)就拥有充足的医师进行调配。但是目前的问题在于，美国的医疗市场中不仅充斥着大量文书记录的文职人员，就连医疗就诊等尚且处于技术蒙昧时期。
美国仅有20%的医师已经转变为利用电子健康记录系统进行工作，即所谓的HER。而目前Quality Systems就再着手进行相应转变。截止到今年8月16日，56岁的保健协会会长Steven Plochocki就已经带领公司进行了长达8年的医疗体系改组进程。公司的新任CEO表示将进行一次性的业界大变革。而宽松的联邦法律制度也为这场变革提供极大的便利，为公司提供给HER医师津贴补助而大开方便之门。
“医院希望医师能够与医疗小区结合得更加紧密，”Jefferies.分析师Richard Close表示。同时，新型医疗保险制度法规还涵盖了鼓励医师通过电子记录开药的条款，这也是促进HER发展的又一因素。而政治家也在极力促进保健IT行业的电子病历卡和其它电子记录平台的发展。
NextGen software就将代替文檔病历卡，成为未来日益流行的电子记录平台，主要使用于外科医疗和门诊病人，还将为投资HER医师的医院所采用。Stifel Nicolaus分析师Todd Weller不是：“外科医疗市场拥有及富吸引力的发展前景，远比医院市场的市场开拓型强。”
Investor's Business Daily
With New CEO, Company Hopes More Doctors Will Go Electronic
Monday August 18, 5:51 pm ET
Marilyn Alva Change is considered a good thing for a firm that tries to get doctors to switch from paper to electronic health records and procedures.
And Quality Systems (NasdaqGS:QSII - News) has plenty of doctors to change.
Aside from clerical tasks such as billing, physicians' practices are still in the technology dark ages. Only about 20% of U.S. doctors on average have switched to electronic health records, or EHR as it's called in the industry.
Now Quality Systems will be trying to change the score under a new chief executive. On Aug. 16, health care veteran and board member Steven Plochocki, 56, took over from Louis Silverman, who led the firm during the last eight years of its expansion.
Silverman plans to join a private startup firm, where he wants the chance to hit "a home run," said a source familiar with the transition, referring to equity payback.
Another source, analyst Charles Rhyee of Oppenheimer & Co., wrote in a client note that it'd be no surprise if board tensions led to his exit.
During Silverman's tenure, yearly revenue grew from $31 million to $187 million. Return on equity jumped from 8% to 38%. The stock ran up more than 400%.
"It is not my intention of changing the core growth strategy of the company," Plochocki said. "But (internal) growth initiatives and acquisitions will accelerate."
Look for more new products, service offerings and fill-in acquisitions, he says.
Quality Systems' major business -- NextGen -- accounts for 93% of revenue. The fast-growing division includes software-based EHR products and practice management, or PM, tools for billing and other clerical uses.
The remaining 7% comes from Quality Systems' legacy dental-practice unit, a slow-growth but steady business.
There wasn't anything slow about the company's overall business in the latest quarter, which ended in June. As reported on Aug. 7, earnings beat Wall Street estimates by 3 cents a share, sending shares up 18% over the next two days.
Profit rose 38% from a year earlier to 40 cents a share. NextGen sales rose 34% to $51.2 million.
The strong quarter reversed some that had disappointed Wall Street over the past year or so.
But the whole sector had a tough year, analysts say, as players tried to meet high expectations from Wall Street.
While Quality Systems' profit growth slowed some in its March-ending fiscal year from the earlier year, chief rival Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (NasdaqGS:MDRX - News) suffered more, largely from a product misstep, analysts say.
Like Quality Systems, Allscripts also beat Wall Street views in the last quarter. So did Athena Health (NasdaqGM:ATHN - News), which is focused on billing software.
Quality Systems' most recent acquisition of billing software firm Healthcare Strategic Initiatives makes it more competitive with Athena and enhances its own cross-selling efforts.
Analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters expect Quality Systems' profit to rise 19% this fiscal year to $1.72 a share and go up another 19% the next year.
Quality Systems' new CEO takes over at a time of change in the industry. Loosened federal rules make it easier for hospitals to subsidize purchases of EHR systems by doctors.
"Hospitals are looking at ways to become more integrated with the doctors in their community," said analyst Richard Close of Jefferies & Co.
Also, new Medicare legislation includes incentives for doctors who prescribe drugs electronically -- another boost for EHR. And politicians on both sides of the aisle are pushing for electronic medical records and other improvements in health care IT.
NextGen software -- which replaces file folders -- targets physician practices and outpatient centers. It's also being sold to hospitals that are investing in EHR for doctors.
"The physician market represents one of the more attractive growth opportunities. It's less penetrated than the hospital market," said analyst Todd Weller of Stifel Nicolaus.
On the electronic medical records side, Allscripts and NextGen are the two biggest with independent and small and midsize practices, Close says.
Epic Systems is a major player among larger customers such as medical centers. Cerner (NasdaqGS:CERN - News) also sells to big hospitals.
Stepped-up growth will come as chief rival Allscripts doubles in size after it buys the North American health care business of U.K.-based Misys later this year. The combined company will represent about $700 million in annual revenue.
"Misys has 100,000 doctors using various practice management products and a very small amount of them have electronic medical products," Close said. "Allscripts is looking at penetrating that base with their electronic medical products."
Plochocki doesn't seem too worried. "Quality Systems is on a $220million run rate. My history is in small- to midmarket companies and taking them through growth and consolidation."
A board member since 2004, Plochocki was most recently CEO of Omniflight Helicopter, a Dallas-based air medical services firm. He previously was CEO of Trinity Hospice and co-founder and CEO of CentraTex, a $50 million medical billing firm.
Plochocki is keeping an eye on an upcoming proxy fight. Dissident board member Ahmed Hussein is leading a proxy battle to vote in a new slate of directors.
He claims the current board is controlled by Chairman Sheldon Razin and thus cannot act independently.
It's not the first time Hussein has stirred controversy, charging that board members are under Razin's control. Razin and other directors have long denied the charge.
Plochocki says the company's record over the past four or five years speaks for itself.
Hussein owns 17% of the company's shares. One of his board picks owns roughly the same.
Other board members up for a vote told shareholders that the dissident slate "would destroy shareholder value based on Mr. Hussein's past behavior and lack of a viable strategy for Quality Systems."
The feud will likely be resolved at the annual shareholders meeting on Sept. 4.
"I call it a nuisance vs. anything that is material from a company operational prospective or for the stock," said Stifel Nicolaus' Weller.
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