Dell Positions Itself for the Federal Health IT Spending Spree

Another well known stalwart in Information Technology has stepped up to take advantage of the total federal outlay of $36.2 billion (net $19.2 with projected $17 billion in savings) about to flow.  In merging with Perot Systems, Dell has followed the well worn route of acquisition of business services consulting followed a year ago by Hewlett Packard's takeover of EDS and IBM's earlier takeover of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting to provide a full panoply of both products and services.

Dell's acquisition of information technology specialists Perot Systems in a transaction valued at $3.9 billion (about 68% above its current valuation) provides a clear signal that the computer hardware giant plans to jump into the health care information technology sector with both feet.   With its high profile name brand personal computers, Dell is in a position to be a major player in the feeding frenzy for the federal government's $36.2 billion outlay of funds to get most Americans' medical records online by 2015.

Expect all the major health IT hardware companies to feature significant service offerings by the end of 2010 when all that federal money starts to flow (through 2014).  This most recent merger will likely influence other companies positioning themselves to take full advantage of all this soon to be released federal money to make even more acquisitions of companies specializing in the health IT space.  These acquisitive companies include (among others):

1.  IBM;

2.  McKesson;

3.  CSC;

4.  Accenture; and

5. GE 

This author consults with leading institutions through GLG