Sound familiar:-
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition -- October 2, 1998
Medical Data Leaves Software Firm
Frustrated by Efforts to Automate It
By GEORGE ANDERS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pediatrician William Solomon wants help -- fast. His
offices are cluttered with baskets holding referrals to specialists.
His
reception area is overrun by floor-to-ceiling filing racks that
stretch 15
feet across. Clerks struggle to keep order, while Dr. Solomon
laments:
"We're drowning in paper."
The cure was supposed to arrive in August. Old-fashioned
record-keeping
would be swept aside, in favor of a radical new approach letting Dr.
Solomon and his office staff do much of their clerical work over the
Internet. Building this new system was Healtheon Corp., one of
Silicon
Valley's most talked-about young companies. Its mission: to change
the way
that thousands of physicians handle each day's torrent of
information.
But Healtheon's new Internet system didn't show up in August. It also
didn't arrive in September, the next goal. Last week, Healtheon's top
engineer, Pavan Nigam, fidgeted when asked for a firm delivery date.
"Probably in late November," he said, although more delays could
occur if
Healtheon isn't satisfied with the way its proposed software holds up
during internal tests.
<snip>
"While the concept of marrying the Internet with health care is
undeniably
appealing, the complexity of such a task cannot be overlooked,"
Midtown
analyst Steve McNeil told clients. Healtheon as of June 30 had
incurred $73
million of losses in its 2 1/2-year history, and people close to its
underwriters suggested that the company wouldn't turn profitable
until 2001.
--- OffRoad 1.9r registered to Adrian Midgley
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