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Gold/Mining/Energy : MSH - MediSolution (leader in healthcare technolgy in Cda) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robin hood who wrote (137)	11/24/1999 6:17:00 PM
From: maxed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 182

The credit for finding this belongs to Toby 12 over on the Stockhouse boards. 51 MediSolution, Inc. R‚mi St. Hilaire, CEO Headquarters: Montr‚al Ownership: Public (MSH) Founded: 1994 Employees: 480 Management Team: R‚mi St.-Hilaire, Pres./CEO; George Czubak, Exec. VP/CFO; Carol Chouinard, Sr. VP/CIO 1998 Revenue: $29.5 million Profit/Loss: $42.8 million 1997 Revenue: $27.4 million Profit/Loss: ($30 million) High point Significant sales in 1998 Low point High burn rate and net losses before 1997 restructuring The Canadians are Coming If you thought the healthcare IS market in the US was crowded enough, get ready for one more. Montr‚al-based MediSolution Ltd., a healthcare software developer, is getting ready to make a move into the US. Originally founded by a US firm, MediSolution was spun off and purchased by a group of Canadian investors in late 1996. When he arrived in January 1997, CEO R‚mi St.-Hilaire says he found that the "focus was on the wrong areas" for the Canadian market. Pharmacy benefit management and managed care systems are two areas that were dropped. Another strategy for boosting revenues was to move about half of the product development work to outside vendors. With discontinued operations and restructuring charges, losses had reached $29.5 million US in the 1997 fiscal year, which ended in March. A modest $42,833 US profit was reported for 1998 and the numbers for 1999 will show an additional improvement, St.-Hilaire says. The restructuring established four divisions: healthcare information systems, human resources products, practice management systems and professional services. MediSolution is Canada's leading healthcare IT company, serving half of the country's hospitals and thousands of physicians, pharmacists and dentists. St.-Hilaire compared it to a "miniature version of HBOC." MediSolution appears to have been able to get on its feet again without a lot of US-based competitors trying to knock it down. "The traditional US vendors have not had much success," in part because they have invested in keeping people on their home turf, St.-Hilaire says. And now MediSolution is working on finding a way to sell its products in the US. In March the company hired a consultant to identify potential candidates for a sale, merger, acquisition or strategic partnership. The eventual deal "could be any flavor," St.-Hilaire says. A potential advantage for a partner would be learning how MediSolution works two languages into its products; another benefit would be reaching the Canadian market, through MediSolution's existing sales base. Look for something to be finalized in 1999. The company's confidence grew in 1998 after several important sales; new clients include the Quebec blood bank system and the Winnipeg Hospital Authority. There also has been interest from non-healthcare businesses in some of the company's payroll systems. In the future expect similar non-healthcare sales in other areas, such as integration software and consulting. For St.-Hilaire, the most significant victory last year came in Alberta, when the company secured the contract to provide its patient administration and pharmacy systems to the province's Regional Health Authorities. "It was quite substantial, because the market knew whoever won the bid would have the chance to be the prevalent provider across the [province's] regions," says Jim Gibson, a partner at Vancouver-based Sierra Systems Consultants. Alberta is pursuing a model that will allow patient information to be shared electronically at health facilities around the province. Heavy lifting will be required to build such an ambitious system, Gibson says. But officials have chosen to get started with MediSolution's products. The company is benefiting from Canadian healthcare's rapid adoption of new technology. Since healthcare in Canada is government controlled, St.-Hilaire says a change like what is under way in Alberta can occur very quickly: "The opportunity for us is huge." --J.M.