An HIT Moment With … Tee Green

An HIT Moment with ... is a quick interview with someone we find interesting. Wyche T. "Tee" Green III is president of Greenway Medical Technologies of Carrollton, GA, which provides market-leading physician practice software and services.

Greenway just announced PrimeResearch. What kinds of practices will use it and what’s the benefit?

We believe that, in time, most practices will participate in active strategies that improve population health, such as conducting clinical trials and enrolling patients into electronic disease registries that enable researchers to drastically increase the speed at which new drugs or treatments are introduced, essentially saving time, money and lives.

Through our PrimeResearch network, physician practices that use Greenway solutions will have access to a vast network of clinical research, quality/safety initiatives, and composite clinical and financial analytics, all of which can increase revenue for the practices and foster the physician’s ability to improve the quality of care for patients.

How do you think economic conditions are changing the physician systems market and who will win and lose?

That’s a tough question as we aren’t quite sure at this point how it will affect the market. The good news for companies like Greenway is that we provide solutions that enable physicians to remove inefficiencies in their practice and increase the quality of service and care they provide their patients. Companies that assist practices in providing better care and increase their revenue by doing so should do well in this environment.

While the economy is slowing down, our company continues to grow. During the last quarter, PrimeSuite 2008 became a fully CCHIT Certified 08 ambulatory EHR, including certification for cardiovascular medicine and child health. In September 2008, we finished our largest month in company history with nearly $7 million in new sales.

Is interest growing in revenue cycle products and services for physician practices?

Yes. We see physicians not only interested in revenue cycle improvements, but in clinical and administrative improvements as well. A general trend we have noticed is that companies that deliver services that integrate and streamline the clinical, financial, and administrative processes of the practice are growing. Physicians want to be able to work fluidly on a single-database solution and are seeking products that allow them to do so.

What is your reaction when you see big hospital systems vendors buying into the physician practice market?

Smart move for them, I would think. I imagine hospital CIOs are pushing their HIS vendor to roll out usable solutions for their connected, and hopefully interoperable, ambulatory market. 

About a year ago, we launched PrimeEnterprise, which enables healthcare organizations such as hospitals, RHIOs, and IPAs to effectively manage today’s complex healthcare enterprise by streamlining the business process and improving the physician’s ability to make the most informed decisions. Whether these organizations are looking to centralize such tasks as clinical population management, streamline the sharing of clinical information or better manage accounts receivable amongst the many providers in their network, a community-based solution will enable them to better manage their workflow. Furthermore, recent Stark Law changes provide benefits for hospitals and other community health organizations that invest in healthcare IT like PrimeEnterprise.

A recent rumor speculated that the company has attracted interest from larger firms that could result in a sale. Does that match with your vision of where the company wants to go?

Certainly not. That rumor seems to pop up every other year or so. I can only speculate from where it comes. To be very clear, we are not talking with anyone about an acquisition of Greenway. Our investors are excited about our long-term plans, so we will continue to grow as a profitable private company. We should add our 1,000th practice in the coming months, and we currently have more than 20,000 users in 30 specialties and subspecialties in 48 states.

We started out in the small- to medium-sized practice market but during the last couple of years we have seen tremendous traction in the larger practice segment of the market. Our business plan is built on a long term relationship with our customers and we are very excited about our future at Greenway.