An Intriguing Twist, EMR And Payroll Vendor Come Together

Today I caught wind of an interesting deal, in which giant payroll services vendor ADP acquired EMR/practice management vendor AdvancedMD.  Here’s how the two justify the deal:

“By leveraging the collective offering of AdvancedMD’s PM and EHR solutions, and combining that with ADP’s full set of services and long-standing history of serving medical professionals, ADP is now uniquely positioned as an integrated, single-source provider of Medical Practice Optimization.”

I’m not sure what they mean by “Medical Practice Optimization,” though it is a keen and catchy phrase, but let’s hazard a guess, shall we?

Even if high-deductible health plans never capture a large segment of the insured population, doctors still want their co-pays and deductibles immediately. This, of course, would not be handled by an EMR.

However, I can visualize some hybrid in which real-time care feedback from EMR improves the input into the practice management system, which improves coding and ultimately, improves the accuracy of patient billing.  Add real-time claims processing to the mix, and you’ve got the know-how for some greatly improved cash flow for practices.

However, I doubt it will be easy to roll up the knowledge an ADP has with a wide range of EMRs, so this may be a blip on the map. Though AdvancedMD is apparently used by 4,100 practices, they have more than a bit of competition for the small- to mid-sized EMR market, no?

In any event, I’m left wondering whether we’ll have revenue cycle management firms, banks or other financial entities buying EMRs. This could be worth watching.