Jokes about doctors' handwriting may go the way of house calls, thanks to Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. The company provides software, as either on-site or hosted options, and services that automate common healthcare data flow tasks, such as entering prescription information, managing orders for lab tests, and other medical workflows and records – more... over computer networks. Allscripts software includes tools that give doctors access (via desktop or wireless handheld devices) to patient drug history, drug interactions, and generic alternatives. Its products also help hospitals and healthcare organizations manage financial and operational functions. Physician practices make up nearly half of Allscripts' business.

The federal government's multi-billion dollar stimulus bill, which included a focus on promoting the switch to electronic health record (EHR) systems, created significant demand for the kinds of products Allscripts and similar companies offered. Many of the company's offerings can work in tandem with hardware and software from other vendors, enabling clients to add individual applications and services as needed.

The software and systems themselves are actually the smallest portion of sales (less than a fifth). Allscripts generates most of its revenue from supporting the deployment and operation of those systems, through maintenance, transaction processing, and related and professional services. Among those services is IT outsourcing, remote hosting, implementation, and research.

Allscripts has strategic partnerships with CVS Caremark, Intuit, Cisco Systems, Dell, Nuance Communications, and Microsoft, among others.

Revenue for 2011 more than doubled, to $1.4 billion, thanks mostly to a full year's worth of results from its major 2010 acquisition of Eclipsys. Also helping was an increased headcount that allowed it to meet an increased demand for billable professional services. SaaS revenues pitched in more than $15 million of the increase. The hiccup in net losses for 2010 was rectified with its largest profit in the past decade, at nearly $75 million.

The acquisition of Eclipsys was a deal valued at about $1.3 billion. The combined company serves about 180,000 physicians, 10,000 post acute care organizations, and 1,500 hospitals. Allscripts had traditionally focused on serving doctors' offices while Eclipsys' client base was largely hospitals and large health care organizations.

Allscripts has its eye on hospitals as a source of potentially strong growth. By 2011, physician practices owned by hospitals or health systems were more numerous than those that weren't. Allscripts' customers include some of the nation's most notable medical organizations and hospitals, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Concentra, CVS Caremark, Scripps Health, and St. Joseph Health System. – less