Merger Mates

HCI: At the time of HIMSS in March, were you already negotiating with Allscripts?

Pead: Well, all that information will be provided through our proxy. But we’ve been talking together for a while, just because we’ve got mutual clients, so we were talking just on the integration side. But I’ve got to tell you, the best thing for me is when clients push you together, because you know you’ve got a winner. And our clients love it, because they’re able to put together the best inpatient and ambulatory solutions.

HCI: Do you anticipate any layoffs?

Pead: Clearly, there’s going to be some effect of the merger, probably more in the back office area, because there are duplications being two public companies—accounting, HR, such areas. But the opportunity for us on the cost savings side is on the systems side. And because there’s so little overlap on the product side, I don’t see a lot of that kind of thing, in terms of people. And the last thing you want to do is to do a merger like this, and see a lot of unhappy people who are forced to leave. For Allscripts, their back-office systems had been provided by Misys. That contract is over in October; and we’ll be able to provide ours. So I won’t say there will be no layoffs; but that will be minimal. We’ll have over 5,000 employees, $1.2 billion in revenue, and because we both have leadership positions in both places, we’ll need them as much as they need us.