Kronos detailed some more of its plans regarding its acquisition of API Healthcare at the 2011 HIMSS conference. For those of you that don't know, HIMSS is probably the largest healthcare information technology organizations in the world. They have a conference each February and it is enormous. In fact, only a handful of cities can host it because it's so big.
If there's any good news, it's that API's current solutions will continue to be supported. Of course, there's no word about continuing to develop them or actively market them to new customers.
They're pretty clear that they plan to combine the best from each product line. To me this sounds like ransack and pillage.
I think what is most telling though is their overt excitement about obtaining the patient classification system (PCS). What that system does is it calculates staffing levels based on patient needs. So if you have a lot of critically sick patients, it will show you that you need more staff to come in and which staff members will best fill the need, and how you can do it for the lowest cost. This, too, is an area that is being increasingly regulated. To my knowledge, API's PCS is a revolutionary technology in the industry and Kronos had nothing to match it. Because of the regulation in states like California, Kronos couldn't put up much competition.
Since jobs are a hot topic, let's talk about that. Sales and training staff are no longer needed. Engineering staff can be cut down to a skeleton crew for support issues. Configuration analysts can be reduced soon since there won't be new implementations. Tech writers are no longer needed. HR? Goodbye. Management? Goodbye. About the only group things look okay for are the support personnel.
Again, I hope to be proven wrong. PLEASE, prove me wrong! But what good comes from eliminating the biggest competitor in the market with an exclusive cutting edge technology?
P.S. Historically, API has always had some big announcement to make at HIMSS. I haven't been able to find anything about one this year. This is yet another sign of what's to come. No news is bad news because it says that the company is does not have anything exciting to announce about its future.
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