Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/949902
63 CIO / HEALTH IT Epic Introduces 3-Part Functionality for Data Collaboration By Jessica Kim Cohen E pic launched a functionality dubbed "One Virtual System Worldwide" to enable healthcare organizations on the Epic EHR to integrate patient data, the EHR vendor announced Jan. 30. e three parts of One Virtual System World- wide include functions called "Come Togeth- er," "Happy Together" and "Working Together." 1. e Come Together functionality allows Epic to find health records for individual patients across various organizations — in- cluding Epic clients, hospitals on other EHRs and the government — to bring their data together. 2. e Happy Together functionality presents the combined patient data in a single merged format. Physicians will be able to view this health record to assess potential gaps in pa- tient care or medication problems, and pa- tients will be able to view the single record in their MyChart patient portal. 3. e Working Together functionality en- courages organizations to collaborate with one another. Schedulers referring a patient to another Epic customer will be able to di- rectly book the appointment in that system, and physicians will be able to send direct messages to colleagues at other organizations, among other capabilities. "Over the last decade we expanded the amount of data that customers can exchange, going well beyond industry requirements. Now, our new functionality 'Working Togeth- er' will allow clinicians to work across Epic organizations to improve the care for their patients," said Dave Fuhrmann, vice president of interoperability at Epic. n Athenahealth Year-End Net Income Up 153% Since 2016: 4 Things to Know By Jessica Kim Cohen A thenahealth released its full-year earnings re- sults for 2017 on Feb. 1. Here are four things to know about the company's performance. 1. Athenahealth posted $1.22 billion in revenue for full- year 2017, up 13 percent from $1.08 billion in 2016. 2. The company reported consolidated bookings were $293 million in 2017, down 16 percent from $348 mil- lion last year. 3. Athenahealth reported $70.6 million in operating in- come during 2017, up 165 percent from $26.6 million last year. The $70.6 million constituted 5.8 percent of the company's total 2017 revenue. 4. The company posted net income of $53.1 million, up 153 percent from $21.0 million one year prior. "We closed the year with strong financial performance during the fourth quarter," said Marc Levine, CFO of athenahealth, crediting the company's growth to a 15 percent increase in providers on the athenahealth net- work. "This revenue growth, combined with execution on our plans to reduce expenses and operate more ef- ficiently, resulted in strong margin expansion." n IBM Revenue Rises After 22 Quarters of Dwindling Earnings By Jessica Kim Cohen I BM broke its 22-quarter streak of declining revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, according to company financial results released Jan. 18. The Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant reported $22.5 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, a 4 percent increase from $21.8 billion the company posted during the same period in 2016. This improvement marks the first quarter IBM has re- ported revenue growth in more than five years. However, the company's 2017 revenue still fell compared to previous years, according to recently released full-year finan- cial results. IBM reported full-year 2017 revenue of $79.1 billion, a 1 per- cent decrease from $79.9 billion in fiscal year 2016. The com- pany also posted $5.8 billion in net income for 2017, repre- senting a 51 percent drop from $11.9 billion in 2016. In its full-year financial results, IBM highlighted $36.5 billion in earnings from "strategic imperatives," which encompass the company's newer initiatives like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics. These projects represented 46 percent of the company's full-year revenue in 2017. "Over the past several years we have invested aggressively in technology and our people to reposition IBM," said James Kavanaugh, senior vice president and CFO at IBM. He added IBM will focus on AI, cloud computing, information security and blockchain development in 2018. n