Medsphere Systems, a provider of the electronic health record CareVue and RCM Cloud, announced today that it has acquired HealthLine Solutions for its hospital supply chain inventory applications.

HealthLine’s applications, which use bar coding and RFID technology for automated tracking, are also capable of providing support for interventional medicine and surgery, the companies said in a joint statement.

WHY IT MATTERS

Purchasing, receiving and inventory supply are challenging in healthcare because they are maintained in multiple locations, such as nursing stations, operating rooms and specialty departments.

Medsphere said that HealthLine’s applications will enhance the revenue cycle management cloud component of its CareVue EHR solution.

The acquisition is yet another sign that healthcare is moving to make IT a one-stop shop with platforms that can meet clinical, revenue cycle and inventory management needs.

Medsphere’s cloud options, both for EHRs through CareVue Cloud and its RCM Cloud solution, are designed to help organizations that want to move away from onsite data centers.

THE BIGGER TREND

Supply chain expenses are slated to be the number one healthcare cost by next year, especially as hospital margins continue to shrink, said John Kupice, CEO of H-Source, an online marketplace for hospital groups to buy and sell medical supplies.

In our sister publication, Healthcare Finance News, Kupice said hospitals that want to move beyond merely surviving, to thriving, must learn to manage supply chain effectively. But this won’t be easy, because it will first take a cultural shift.

Supply chain is viewed today as a transactional model — and it must move to be seen more as a strategic priority. Like most cultural shifts, to accomplish this, system-wide buy-in will be required.

ON THE RECORD

“With the addition of supply chain management functionality, the CareVue solution overall, and the RCM component specifically, offer a combination of comprehensive and affordable functionality,” said Medsphere CEO Irv Lichtenwald.