Barrons May 17, 2019
Doctors’ offices and hospitals have switched en masse from paper to digital records over the past decade. That shift created an entire industry of electronic records companies that install and troubleshoot those systems.
Because of a sloppy and rushed rollout, it also created headaches—and worse—for doctors, patients, and the government. Can it also lead to opportunities?
For investors, the first era of electronic records proved lucrative as the government pumped tens of billions of dollars into the industry. Shares of Cerner, the largest publicly traded company in the group, jumped from $10 to $70 from 2009 to 2015. That golden age is over. The stock has been dead money since then, and some competitors’ shares have lagged the market. Most...