Health IT war game predicts future
Yes, it happened: Allscripts is going to merge with Eclipsys…and we saw it coming over one year ago.
Last year around this time we had just completed our public war game, The Battle for Healthcare Information. The objective was to figure out where the emerging business of electronic medical records (EMR) was heading – along with the companies driving this fast-moving market. One of the predictions was that Allscripts-Misys, among the leading players, would have to merge with another EMR company or a larger conglomerate such as IBM in order to capitalize on the growth opportunities. Their sales force appeared too small to truly penetrate the more than 90% of the as-of-yet untouched market potential.
Only two months after the game ended, Allscripts already began to reach out by forming an alliance with Cardinal Healthcare for assitance in sales and distribution. Apparently that first “dance” did not develop into a something more permanent but it clearly began a process for Allscripts that lead to its just announced merger with Eclipsys.
Let’s see where this year’s game leads….The Battle for China’s Smart Grid. I have already posted the conclusions from the US version of the game. I intend to post our findings from the European-run version. The conclusions and predictions differed somewhat. More about this next week.
