Cleveland Clinic partners with Dell

I found this article interesting. Please read below.

http://www.emrandehr.com/?s=+Cleveland+clinic

Cleveland Clinic, Dell Offer Joint Epic EHR Service
Even when you’re a juggernaut the size of Epic, eventually you’re going to reach the point where your customer base is saturated and you need unique new directions to go. This new deal between Dell and the Cleveland Clinic may do just that for Epic.

This week at HIMSS, the two are announcing an agreement in which the two will offer consulting, installation, configuration and hosting services for Cleveland Clinic’s version of Epic. Under the deal struck between the two parties, customers can choose between a hosted version of the Epic instance and a full install on their site.

Cleveland Clinic execs say that their knowledge of using Epic, which they have for more than three years, will give them special expertise in helping providers adjust to Epic. The Clinic has been selling Epic to providers through its MyPractice Healthcare Solutions business. To date, MyPractice has sold EMRs to more than 400 providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners and midwives within a 50 mile radius of Cleveland.

Working with Dell, the two companies plan to offer the new EMR service nationwide. The Cleveland Clinic will handle the EMR installation for new customers, and Dell provides the technology infrastructure. Epic gets a licensing fee for each of these deals, the customers’ relationship will be with Dell and the Cleveland Clinic.

As Dr. C. Martin Harris, CIO of the Cleveland Clinic, told Modern Healthcare, most medical practices and hospitals have EMRs in place, leaving only a much smaller group of first-time EMR buyers. But, Harris said, that minis still a big number. (And there’s always the practices still looking to switch.)

Turning Dell and the Cleveland Clinic into a sales channel for Epic seems like a pretty smart move. With the help of players who know the smaller physician practice market, it might open up a new opportunity for Epic which it hadn’t much of a shot at before.