HP, Quest Partner On EHR Bundle

Quest Diagnostics and Hewlett-Packard today said they are partnering to provide a bundled electronic health record (EHR) offering to small and midsize physician offices.

Under the relationship, laboratory services company Quest Diagnostic's health IT subsidiary MedPlus is providing its web-based Care360 EHR software and services combined with HP hardware, services, and financing options.

MedPlus says approximately 150,000 physicians in 70,000 locations currently use the company's Care360 platform, which also supports e-prescriptions and the electronic ordering and access of results of lab tests.

However, the new pact with HP is MedPlus' first hardware bundle relationship. Care360 can be bundled with HP notebooks, tablets PCs, desktops, or thin clients. HP will also offer financing to customers of the Care360 bundle that includes the option for doctors to pay monthly for the purchase while they await their meaningful use incentive payments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The bundled offerings will be sold through HealthDynamix, the healthcare division of PC Mall.

The companies are also launching a nationwide tour to educate physicians on EHRs and the government's Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act's meaningful use programs, starting in Baltimore on Oct. 28.

The pact between HP and MedPlus follows a path also taken by other computer vendors in offering bundled health IT packages to physician offices. For instance, Dell last month announced it would begin offering its recently released Android-based Streak mobile device bundled with third-party clinical applications.