Technology companies poised to tap into stimulus funds - Washington Business Journal:

ramsdenjerrieas54.blogspot.com
That spending will allow projects to begin that will servde as the foundation for progressinvtoward longer-term goals and future reforms the Obama administration hopew to achieve, including lowerin g the cost of health care, improving national securityu and increasing energy independence. The spending represents a larg e opportunity for several local technology companies that servs thehealth care, broadband and energy industries. Amount: $20.6 billionj Doling the cash: Goal: Use information including new software and hardware implementations andsystems integration, to ensur that all U.S.
citizens have electronic healthg recordsand insurance, reduce health care costds and administrative errors and improve the quality of patiengt care. Contenders: Technology companies that sell to commercial customerss in the health care sector and to government agencies have a staked in modernizingthe U.S. health care system. Reston-baser is one company that could increase its business as a result of $2 billion worth of financial incentivex for the company’s customers as they implemeng new systems.
The company, which provides health informatioj management and other systems to morethan 2,000 healthg care facilities, has asked its board to approvr up to a 20 percent increasde in its annual research and development spending to ensurre all its products meet governmengt certification requirements, said Chris Callahan, QuadraMed’s vice president of producyt management and strategy. The 600-employee company, which had more than $137 milliobn in revenue in also plans to hire 30 to 40 programmers and engineers to meet the increased demandc for its productsand services.
There is a huge challeng to implement new health IT systems for hospitalds as well asthe 2,000 private physicians’ offices across the country in the time frame that is beiny called for, Callahan said. And while the outlook for companiezs such as QuadraMed and its competitors is good, unanswered questions about healthn IT goals have left company executives uncertaij about when they will see sales get a real boost. “All customers need to procures [technology] and demonstrate meaningful use over the next18 months,” Callaha said. But “we still don’ty have a [Health and Human secretary confirmed to determine what meaningfukuse means.
” The increased demand for services to support new healtj IT systems, networks and informationj exchanges also has attracted Chantilly-based federal tech contractore Citizant Inc. The minority, woman-owned small busines s does about 10 percent of its work in the federalo healthcare sector, up from zero two yearsw ago and recorded revenue of $16 millio n in 2007. The company hopes that existing relationships will be the key to winnintg its shareof stimulus-funded projects. Investment in health care modernizatioj is part of the reason Citizant has been working insidd the Department of Health andHuman Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid said CEO Raymond Roberts.
“We’ve been seeing opportunity for the last two tothre years” to provide electronic information assurance so health care data is accurate and secure, he Other large federal contractors, such as Arlington-basec , Falls Church-based and Government Services in have teams assessing which projectsw they will bid on. Each has provided healtu IT services to government agencies inthe Vangent, with $558 milliohn in 2008 revenue, has won more than $36 million in receng government awards for health care-related technologyu services and last month tapped into new opportunities in the The company demonstrated March 23 that its healtbh IT systems are interoperable with Sant a Clara, Calif.
-based ’s technology infrastructure and comply with the requirementa of the federal government’s Healthcare Informatiom Technology Standards Panel. That capabilityt could allow Vangent to compete with companies like CSC and Peror Systems for work on projectxs building out health information exchanges or network hubs that allow data sharinbg across organizations atthe local, state and federal Amount: $7.
2 billion Dolingh the cash: , , Provide broadband Internet accesw to underserved or unserved regions, increase broadband speedd in serviced areas and increase broadband use in Pervasive broadband access could benefit public servicess providers, the education small businesses, consumers and others. While much of the stimulus money coulfd be awarded to large companies in the telecommunicatione industry that have the resources to builrd out broadbandnetworks — such as , , and a number of local companiexs that sell or use broadband capacity to provide Internet-basef services also stand to benefit from this investmenty through competitive grants.