While Health Reform Debate Rages, Oracle Caters to Insurance Companies
Timing is everything. That's a saying that enterprise software giant Oracle has apparently not taken to heart, because today, in the middle of hysteria by both sides of the reform debate, the company has unveiled Oracle Revenue Management and Billing for Health Insurance.
A B2B vendor might not care to tiptoe around health IT issues, since they don't really depend on consumer opinion to gain customers. But Oracle is treading on dangerous ground by catering to the financial needs of insurers just when they're everyone's favorite target for vitriol.
The new software is just one in a complete line of healthcare IT applications that Oracle offers. While most of these are basically the same as other Oracle products, today's release is a rules-based application tailored to managing insurance billing and revenues.
In a recorded webcast that accompanied the PR for the new product, Oracle representatives specifically mentioned increased spending on Medicaid and Medicare as something that the company wanted to profit from. If Oracle is intent on capitalizing on the attention that health IT is getting from the reform movement, this is probably the wrong way to go about it from a public relations perspective.
Despite poor timing, Oracle's offering might actually make things better for the customers of insurance carriers if it delivers on its promise of streamlining billing and payment operations. The less organizational overhead spent on activities than can be automated through the Web the better.
However, Oracle is one of several big corporations on the member roster of the Heatlhcare Information Technology Standards group (PDF list), an industry-led organization that some prominent analysts have accused of stifling health IT reform.
Whether there's cause to be skeptical of Oracle or not, releasing a specialized software package for healthcare payers today is walking a fine line.
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Thank you Steven for being a voice of social consciousness! I've just tweeted:
Public health care would drive private insurers to the sideline? SO WHAT? People b4 profits!
Can I have a toke of whatever you're smoking?
Just out, Microsoft wells Windows Vista to Insurance Industry!
Just out, Nike sells shoes to Insurance Industry Executives!
Jeeze dude, seriously, did you take any economics classes when your parents paid your way through college?
Have you notice that the Electronic Patient Record guys are staffing like crazy? Or that the VA has started hiring a flock of new programmers?
-XC
Selling things to insurance companies isn't the story here. The story here is that one of the world's biggest software companies doesn't seem to know its butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to marketing and product releases. In today's news cycle, selling software for insurance companies to manage their boatloads of cash is like the NRA holding a rally right after Columbine. As to whether this is a bigger story than electronic patient records or anything else, I really don't care. I cover enterprise software, not health care.
Health care reform is to Obama what Iraq was to Bush (future SAT question). Obama seems to be unrelenting on this health care reform issue. Almost like his legacy is depending on it. He is treating this issue alot like the way Bush treated Iraq. If he doesn't succeed, at whatever cost, then he is going to be considered a failure. I thought we voted for change? Obama, and all politicians, need to know when to step back and re-evaluate. Tax and spend is not going to fix the health care problem or the economy. Forget health care reform for now and focus on a "Moderate Growth Economy" model and, eventually, everypart of the economy will benefit. Take away the "bubbles" that we see in our current econmic model and we wouldn't have the problems we currently have in our economy. For starters Obama could start allowing a system where 401Ks are tied to the TBill instead of Wall Street mutual funds. Personally, I would rather invest my future in my country than in mutual fund managers who do noting but take a cut and then go to the Hamptons.