Healthcare IT – There’s Gold in Them Hills!

On January 24^th 1848, James Marshall found gold while working on Sutter’s Mill in northern California.  Word of this discovery spread quickly throughout the state, then extended like wildfire to the rest of the country and the world. It wasn’t long before everyone in the free world understood that fortunes could be made mining for gold in California. The result was an influx of treasure hunters who increased the population of this formerly remote area by as many as 86,000 people over two years and the year was forever etched in history as the intrepid miners became known as the 49ers. While the gold rush is long over, the spirit of those enterprising individuals lives on in a different manner in the 21^st century. While today, new and unfamiliar territories are described in terms such as “markets and innovative technologies,” Healthcare IT falls into this category.

Government funding and a drive towards automating health practices presents a huge business opportunity for solution providers but often also pulls traditional reseller into unfamiliar territory. We hear many stories of those “crazy speculators” who picked up and moved to California; struggling for months and eventually finding a large nugget or deposit of precious metal that set them up for life. You rarely hear about the flip side; those that relocated and toiled for years without ever discovering their life’s riches. Similarly, it’s a fair to assume some IT service providers will do very well in healthcare IT, and many more that don’t. Like the 49ers, resellers need to know how to prospect successfully and equip themselves with the proper tools to cash in on the opportunities. In order to avoid the pitfalls of entering this market, the CompTIA and members of the Healthcare IT Community developed and assembled a number of resources to help members build this type of promising IT practice—and stake their own claim in this 21^st century gold rush.

So what is CompTIA doing to help?  A perfect example was provided at CompTIA Breakaway 2010, where members and our team assembled a dedicated Healthcare IT Track to share best practices and walk through the tools we’ve created over the past few months. In the session recordings, you’ll find a wealth of market research and actionable information that can help you determine if the opportunity is a fit for your company.  The CompTIA Member Resource Center is loaded with a variety of other resources, too!  If you want step-by-step process or education guides for healthcare IT, we’ve developed them with the help of the community and posted them for easy access. Here you’ll find our newly introduced CompTIA Healthcare Guide: a 10-Week Plan to Transform Your Business a comprehensive roadmap for IT providers considering the prospects of this market.

As I mentioned, we continue to invest in the detailed research our members ask for, including new studies on EMR and medical practice specifics s that provide a better understanding of the market. The MRC also contains Educational Videos on Demand covering topics such as healthcare fundamentals, HIT regulatory issues and the unique needs of healthcare— with many more on their way.

The time for IT service companies to enter the healthcare technology field is upon us, though the opportunity is not for everyone. The materials and resources we’ve put together with direction from the Healthcare IT Community include evaluation tools, to see if the market is right for you. Before investing an extensive amount of time and capital with a new venture (like the prospective miners that moved without understanding the real opportunity), review the tools and materials we’ve assembled to ensure you’ll be successful in staking your own claim.