Allscripts CEO Lays Out Genomics Strategy To Users

Allscripts, maybe the only EHR vendor with a chance to survive and prosper against Epic and Cerner, detailed its strategy at its user conference.

BOSTON -- Don't count out Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. just yet. Paul Black, the former Cerner Corp. COO credited with leading Allscripts' recent turnaround as its CEO and president since late 2012, laid out a bold strategy to Allscripts users to keep the EHR vendor viable in a market dominated by Cerner and Epic Systems Corp. "It doesn't make any sense to rip out the base layer," Black told nearly 3,000 attendees during his Aug. 5 keynote at the Allscripts Client Experience (ACE 2015) annual user conference, held this year at the sprawling Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. "We're here for the long term."...

Central to the strategy Black laid out to his customers at ACE 2015 is a major deal with genomics IT vendor NantHealth LLC, which is headed by cancer researcher and entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D. NantHealth's system represents the kind of "next-generation" healthcare technology that providers should invest in, rather than ripping out existing EHRs, Black said. The partnership agreement between the two companies -- which involved a $200 million investment by Allscripts in NantHealth and a personal $100 million investment in Allscripts by Soon-Shiong -- will merge NantHealth's "intelligent operating system" for precision medicine clinical decision-making for oncologists with Allscripts' Sunrise EHR, Black and Soon-Shiong said.

Central to Allscripts' strategy is a major deal with genomics IT vendor NantHealth.
"Why are we with Allscripts?" Soon-Shiong said in his keynote to the Allscripts users. "Allscripts has one of the biggest footprints in the ambulatory world." Soon-Shiong argued that advances in genomics and molecular medicine make possible precision medicine software for oncologists. By sequencing patients' genomes and tailoring individualized drug regimens that insurers will cover, oncologists can better engage cancer-killing cells and more often avoid toxic chemotherapy side effects, Soon-Shiong said...