Health Financial Markets Impacted

iHealthbeat reported this morning that the merger between WEBMD and HLTH was cancelled due to current economic situation.  They cited several reasons for cancelling the merger which was announced in February 2008

In a statement, Martin Wygod, chair of HLTH and WebMD, said, "The boards of directors of HLTH and WebMD believe that, in the current economic environment, it is important for a growth company like WebMD not to be encumbered by $650 million in [HLTH's] long-term debt that would be coming due in 18 to 36 months" (Washington Post, 10/21).

Health IT experts tackle vendor collaboration

Dan Michelson -- chief marketing officer of physician software vendor AllscriptsMisys Healthcare Solutions -- recommended that physician group buyers "contractually obligate" their vendors to provide systems that can easily share data with other vendors.

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