In the managed service space of the IT channel, there’s been a touch of health-care fever. With the U.S. government’s electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR) initiatives and directives in place, doctors’ offices and medical facilities have looked like goldmines for value-added resellers and managed service providers. Health care was said to be primed, willing and ready for the IT channel to upgrade and support their thriving practices. Like the forty-niners of the California gold rush, tech entrepreneurs forged ahead — but the prospects haven’t always panned out.
Mining New Territory
Uprooting your business to stake a new claim doesn’t guarantee you’ll hit pay-dirt. There’s a perception, for example, that doctors and medical professionals are demanding customers. It’s not that they’re all high-maintenance, but IT providers exploring the health-care industry will run headlong into a load of governmental rules and insurance regulations that health-care organizations are forced to follow.
The office policies and the systems that support them must adhere to a complex and sometimes contradictory set of strict guidelines that may change with great frequency. MSPs that forge into health-care IT specialties must be comfortable with those limitations, and confident they can design and revise their systems and services to meet those ever-changing needs.
Health-care groups have also been known to need 24/7 support as well as design, implementation and support expertise for a number of technology solutions. MSPs entering the health-care IT field must invest in a portfolio of solutions and services to compete with existing providers. To be successful in this market, they’ll likely have to partner with new vendors and implement more extensive tech and sales training programs.
In addition to their standard portfolio of solutions and services, successful health-care IT practices typically offer support for EMR/EHR, backup and disaster recovery, network security and other client-specific applications. Of course, those who put the most effort into the research and planning stages of these specialized business units often get the best return from their investments. Despite the negative comments and speculation, the opportunities in health-care IT remain strong for those willing to devote their time and energy to building an effective practice.
Staking Your Claim
While nothing is guaranteed, it’s not all fool’s gold in the flourishing health-care IT sector. The health care industry in the U.S. and Canada projects 7.4 percent compound annual growth rate and is expected to top $31.3 billion by 2017 — up from $21.9 billion in 2012, according to Research and Markets’ “North American Health Care IT Market Report 2013-2017.” While those figures appear to conflict with the observations of some indirect sales experts, it just highlights the misperception that can occur within a specialized technology fields. Some MSPs and VARs will prosper while others won’t.
Before constructing any specialized business unit, an organization must invest whatever time and energy it will take to understand the needs and values of that specific target audience. Their market research and prospective client discussions should find answers to the following questions:
- What companies are already servicing medical offices, hospitals and other health-care organizations in the area?
- Do those organizations meet all their clients’ practice needs?
- What compliance, technology or support gaps exist that could support a new service provider?
- Would it be profitable to build a health-care IT practice that meets those target market needs?
- How can an outsource partner help this new practice succeed?
Entering uncharted territory always presents a risk, but health-care IT doesn’t need to be a crapshoot. Those in the IT channel who already support some technologies in medical practices, hospitals and related facilities are more likely to profit from an expansion of their services. Others who carefully research and fully vet the opportunities available in their area, and build a practice that can uniquely support the needs of those prospective customers, will have a much better chance of succeeding.
