Prescription For Medical Profits: Old Paper Records Go Electronic.(THE IBD 100)

Byline: ALAN ELLIOTT

Your grocery store, your corner service station, your local library, even the person who reads your utility meter -- most of them have switched to computer-based records-keeping. But chances are your doctor still scrawls your medical history on a paper chart.

Many analysts say most of the 600,000 physicians in the U.S. will convert to electronic records-keeping and management in the next few years. And the switch is starting. Already, 1 out of every 5 doctors have made the jump to electronic records.

This momentum -- spurred by a growing alliance of government, business and health-care interests -- is challenging small companies like Horsham, Pa.-based NextGen Healthcare Information Systems to manage rapid growth.

NextGen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems in Irvine, Calif. The subsidiary accounted for 82% of QSI's nine-month revenue of $63.4 million. NextGen could contribute an even larger portion through 2005.

NextGen develops, installs and maintains systems that …