Will Microsoft Expand Dynamics into the Electronic Health Record Market?

The market for Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions was interesting and growing even before the United States passed the HITECH Act in 2009, which defines incentives for physicians and other medical professionals who adopt EHR solutions by 2011, and penalties for those who don't adopt such solutions by 2015. With this legislation in place, many software vendors are now competing fiercely for their share of the expanding market. Microsoft was never quiet when there was a rush on any software market, covering everything with mass potential and ranging from consumer games to high-end data management solutions. Now that EHR market is getting hotter by the day, is Microsoft entering this growing market, or are they going to pass their turn?

In fact, Microsoft is already present in this market with two products, Amalga and HealthVault, which address two distinctly different aspects of healthcare information technology: the former is addressing the enterprise needs of large hospitals, while the latter is helping individuals keep track of their own medical and health history. Even though HealthVault is a true platform offering integration capabilities through healthcare industry-standard exchange protocols, its consumer orientation doesn't make it a likely candidate to conquer and rule the EHR market.

On the other hand, Amalga is an enterprise platform, developed originally by the Washington Hospital Center then acquired by Microsoft in 2006.  It comprises a wide palette of functionality for hospitals, including electronic medical records, medication management, patient management, laboratory management, human resources management and financial management. Especially with the last two components listed, Amalga comes pretty close to ERP functionality and a logical question can be asked here: how is Amalga aligned with Microsoft's Dynamics products line and general business ...