NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC – a wholly owned subsidiary ofQuality Systems Inc. (QSII – Analyst Report) – recently revealed that North Carolina Pediatric Associates has sought to deploy the company’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions across four of its practice locations in North Carolina.
Under the agreement, the pediatric centre will leverage NextGen’s Ambulatory EHR, Practice Management and Patient Portal solutions across its enterprise to streamline business processes, increase practice efficiencies and assist the delivery of outcome-based patient care.
NextGen’s EHR solutions will provide the center with the necessary technology for meeting its specialty-specific needs, as well as reform initiatives such as the transition to ICD-10 and Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2. Additionally, the integration of the NextGen Patient Portal is expected to facilitate effective electronic communication and clinical data exchange between physicians and patients.
Having outgrown the functionality of its existing system, North Carolina Pediatric Associates had adopted NextGen’s integrated EHR platform built on a single database to streamline the clinical and administrative workflow, in turn supporting improved quality and coordinated patient care.
Recent Deals
Over the past few months, NextGen Healthcare has been relentlessly focusing on extending its EHR service footprint through the signing of several agreements with healthcare providers and hospitals.
Last month, NextGen entered into a 10-year agreement with Capital Women’s Care, LLC to continue providing its Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) services to the Folton, MD-based healthcare provider. In the same month, NextGen was also contracted to deploy its RCM services at Unionville, MO-based Putnam County Memorial Hospital to help streamline business processes, reduce costs and support growth for hospitals and ambulatory healthcare organizations.
Apart from the popularity of its RCM services, NextGen’s Inpatient Clinicals, Lab and Patient Portal EHR solutions have also been gaining traction. NextGen inked a contract with HMC/CAH Consolidated, Inc. (HMC) for the installation of its solutions at five HMC wholly-owned Critical Access Hospitals; bringing 10 of HMC’s 12 rural community-based hospitals onto the NextGen Healthcare EHR platform.
Recently, NextGen Healthcare partnered with software and consulting services provider 3M Health Information Systems to offer the latter’s web-based ICD-10 Education Program across the industry.
Our Take
For the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Quality Systems reported lackluster earnings which reflected a year-over-year drop of 50%. Earnings were hurt by a year-over-year decline in system sales and higher R&D expenses. Quality Systems also witnessed dampened booking margins growth in recent quarters.
However, despite the discouraging figures, we are still optimistic given the continued strength in its NextGen division as well as the expected benefit from its Mirth acquisition.
Revenue growth continues to be largely boosted by the strength of the NextGen Healthcare Information Systems division. Areas such as Revenue Cycle Management, Population Health and interoperability continue to have a positive impact on sales and marketing, both in the form of net new deals as well as cross-selling into the company’s growing client base.
Adding to the slew of positives, during the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Quality Systems began realizing benefits of various initiatives employed over the last year, including restructuring of its functional organization, cross-selling products and services and the launch of new solutions to cater to the changing healthcare market demands.
Quality Systems presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks include Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (ATEC – Snapshot Report) in the medical instruments industry and Merge Healthcare Incorporated (MRGE – Analyst Report) and Omnicell, Inc. (OMCL – Analyst Report) in the medical information systems industry. While Alphatec sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both Merge Healthcare and Omnicell carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
