This is some interesting news for the hospital health IT world:
Siemens (SIE) AG is exploring a sale of its hospital database and information-technology unit to focus on energy and industrial businesses, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The German engineering company is evaluating options for the business, and no final decision has yet been made, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the considerations are private. The unit could be valued at more than 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), said one of the people.
Siemens Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser is seeking to focus Siemens around “electrification, automation and digitalization” and has already sold off $2.3 billion euros since late 2012. It seems like Siemens healthcare product line fits great with the digitalization focus, so there’s likely more to the story. My guess is the Siemens healthcare business hasn’t been doing well (Thank you Cerner and Epic) and so he’s looking to get out while there’s still some value in the business.
If you’re a Siemens healthcare customer, you probably welcome this change as well. Hopefully a sale will infuse the company and the product with a new energy that will produce some better results for their customers. Maybe I’m talking to the wrong people, but those I’ve met on Sorian are basically ho-hum about the product. No doubt it will be interesting to watch.