Due to the fact that many hospitals are beginning to rely on their healthcare IT departments more heavily for their upgrades to medical billing software and EMR software, independent investors are deciding to put their money into these services.
This could help facilitate long-term growth in this sector. In turn, many of the companies that receive the funding could offer higher quality services to hospitals who are still behind the curb on these essential transitions.
According to global consulting firm Mercom Capital Group, venture capital funding for the healthcare IT sector tripled in the third quarter of 2011, rising from $66 million in the second quarter all the way to $207 million, HealthcareIT News reports. This was also much greater than the amount of funding these companies received one year earlier, which was around $62 million in the third quarter of 2010.
"It was the best quarter in terms of both VC funding and [merger and acquisitions] activity in the healthcare IT sector since the first quarter of 2010," Raj Prabhu, managing partner at Mercom Capital Group, told the news source. "It is encouraging to see that a lot of these funding rounds were early stage deals."
However, Forbes indicates the startup sector for this part of the economy is just as rocky as any other. As a result, doctors and mangers of small medical facilities need to ensure that they purchase products that won't leave them stranded without the proper complementary support.
To find the best healthcare IT provider, these individuals may want to seek out a provider that has time-tested software such as Practice Choice, which is already in use by major government organizations.