Electronic Health Record (“EHR”) service provider Quality Systems Inc. (QSII) recently revealed it has bagged three Stevie awards at the 9th Annual American Business Awards (“ABA”) held in New York City. Over 200 executives from around the nation took part in the selection process to choose the Stevie Award winners.
The ABA awards are America’s most prestigious in the business world. All organizations, including non-profit or for-profit, private or public, small or large are free to submit their candidature. In this year’s competition, over 2,800 entries were submitted by firms operating in different industries.
The Stevie Awards are handed out in four categories: The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and The Stevie Awards for Women in Business. The Stevies recognize superior workplace performance across the globe.
The ABA bestowed the Stevie on Quality Systems in three categories; firstly, support staffer of the year, Julie Farlow and secondly, the investor relations campaign of the year. In addition, the company bagged a third Stevie in another category.
The President of the Stevie Awards pointed out that Quality Systems was one, among a select few companies, which bagged as many as three awards this year. For its part, the company stated that it had high regard for third party recognition.
Quality Systems reported robust results for the fourth quarter ended March 31, which may be attributed to the federal Stimulus that has provided a fillip to the industry in general. However, competition is intense from well regarded players such as Athenahealth (ATHN), Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX), Cerner Corporation (CERN) and others. Price discounting is frequent, particularly on the lower end, and Software as a service (SaaS) based model appears to have exacerbated pricing pressure.
Quality Systems has traditionally focused on providing solutions for physician practices. However, core ambulatory EHR providers, such as Quality Systems, will see opportunities shrinking for selling their products as physician groups are increasingly getting absorbed into hospitals. On the positive side, we derive comfort from the high proportion of recurring revenues and steady growth in NextGen pipeline. Our Neutral recommendation on the stock is supported by a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold).
ATHENAHEALTH IN (ATHN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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