Company Name: Allscripts
Executive Name: Glen E. Tullman
Title: Chairman/CEO
Product/Services: Clinical, information and connectivity solutions for physicians
Company Size: 1,000 employees; estimated revenues of $300 million in 2007
Web Site: http://www.allscripts.com
ITA: In about 10 words, what pain does Allscripts solve?
Glen Tullman: Providing software systems physicians use to deliver better, safer care.
ITA: What motivated you to join Allscripts?
GT: I wanted to make a difference in the most important issue we face in this country: providing quality, cost-effective health care.
When I arrived at Allscripts in 1997, the company was out of money with Series J preferred stock and without a business strategy. My first action was to reposition the company as a provider of physician automation tools that focused on automating prescriptions.
The idea was to prevent medication errors by replacing handwritten prescriptions. This would make health care safer and more efficient at the same time. The challenge was overcoming conventional wisdom: that physicians won’t use technology and the prescription pad is the best solution.
Today, electronic prescriptions are acknowledged as the highest standard of care and Allscripts customers generate more than half of all the physician-written e-prescriptions in the U.S.
We have successfully transitioned to offering a full suite of IT solutions (led by our electronic health records) that help physicians and caregivers provide improved care at a lower cost whether they are in their practice or at the emergency department at a hospital.
Allscripts makes a difference in the lives of millions of patients every day.
ITA: How does Allscripts differentiate from its competitors?
GT: Allscripts is an information company rather than just a software provider.
Our goal is to deliver all the information needed to make a high-quality, cost-effective health care decision on one Allscripts screen (kind of like Bloomberg, which is the software traders use to make important financial decisions regarding stocks).
We not only deliver great software and functionality but superior clinical content behind the screen. We not only provide top-rated practice management software but we also generate new revenue streams for health care providers. We’re a partner rather than just a software provider.
Allscripts is the only company with solutions for the entire health care market that range from physicians who practice alone to multi-speciality groups to large academic medical centers and acute care hospitals.
ITA: How does Allscripts make money?
GT: The primary source of Allscripts revenue is the sale of licenses for our clinical software. Allscripts also sells clinical product education and connectivity solutions for physicians and patients along with medication fulfillment services.
ITA: How has your sector evolved over the last five years?
GT: The problems with the U.S. health care system remain as profound today as they were five years ago. This provides a vast and growing opportunity for health care information technology companies like Allscripts.
As a nation, we spend $2.2 trillion a year on health care. About $700 billion of this is wasted with 50 percent of patients non-compliant with their treatment plans and nearly 100,000 deaths each year from medical errors.
It’s a crisis of monumental proportions that has fueled a boom in technologies such as electronic health records, which aims to improve care while lowering costs. In 2001, only a handful of people had heard of the electronic health record.
Today, the technology is universally acknowledged as a clear solution to the problems that plague our health care system. Health care IT has made it into the pages of Time magazine, the evening news and President Bush’s State of the Union address.
Health care technology adoption rates are rising sharply. As a result, Allscripts has grown from $20 million in revenues in 2001 to what analysts who follow the company believe will approximate $300 million in 2007. We believe we’re at the very beginning of the market acceleration.
ITA: How is Allscripts funded?
GT: Allscripts is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol MDRX.
ITA: What are the biggest challenges you face as an Illinois-based IT company?
GT: As a provider of IT solutions for health care organizations across the country, to date we have experienced no significant challenges stemming from our Illinois location. In fact, our central location relative to our clients makes it easier for us to attract them to Chicago for advanced user training.
ITA: What are your thoughts in general related to the Illinois IT community?
GT: Illinois is well represented in the health care IT boom that we’ve experienced over the last few years.
That said, with the presence of prestigious organizations like the American Medical Association and the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society, with our strong universities and with our central location, we would like to see more companies here in Illinois.
Overall, the Chicago area is an ideal location for IT entrepreneurs who find relatively affordable housing (especially compared to Silicon Valley), a highly educated and technically sophisticated work force and the financial and legal infrastructure needed to spawn and nurture vibrant companies.
ITA: How much of your work force is based in Illinois?
GT: Roughly 40 percent.
ITA: Are there any plans to get into industries beyond your current core?
GT: Our focus has always been to inform, connect and transform health care. We have no plans at this time to move beyond our core health care business.