Dell Enters Health IT Fray, Catering To Small Providers

The computer company Dell unveiled a new offering to doctors and hospitals shopping for an electronic medical records system Thursday, Dow Jones Newswires reports. Dell's system will be cheaper, easier and more compatible with other products, the company said, helping to overcome longstanding health information technology obstacles (Solsman, 9/10).

Many doctors are buying practice management software, but not electronic medical records systems, the New York Times blog, BITS, reports. "More than 120,000 physicians use the practice management software supplied by General Electric, but only 35,000 use its electronic health records." However, the Obama administration has channeled around $19 billion toward incentivizes for doctors to buy records systems.

"The companies pursuing sales to the small-practice market are betting that Internet-era computing will help them supply doctors with lower-cost, easier-to-use and less cumbersome technology," the Times reports, noting that large, integrated systems and independent doctors tend to be the two biggest customer groups. Dell is targeting small practices in the Houston area with its new, mainly Web-based software system. Dell is also offering financing packages to help small physician groups and solo doctors afford the upfront costs (Lohr, 9/10).