HIMSS: Moving From Stimulus Hope To Real Health-Care IT Projects

Distributor Avnet Technology Solutions four years ago launched Avnet HealthPath University, vertical-specific training for VARs to better equip them with knowledge and understanding of health-care environments and the ways in which they could get involved without being clinical giants like the McKessons, Cerners and GEs of the world.

"There are funding opportunities in all areas," said David Hutchinson, HealthPath Practice Leader at Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. "But there aren't many hospitals built to support that kind of growth in [EMRs]."

HealthPath had already seen steady popularity, said Tony Vottima, Avnet's vice president of business development, but what was especially resonating with VARs was the hands-on experience and the inclusion of doctors to act as consultants for resellers when they made sales calls.

"That gives them instant credibility," Vottima said.

Credibility is often the hardest part of a VAR's health-care sell. More often that not, it's learning who to approach.

"The CIO is not the end user," said Hutchinson. "The nurses, and people like radiology, the lab, facilities, finance--they all have unique systems and they make buying decisions."

"We try to load them with info as much as possible," said Greg Davidson, senior health-care business development manager at Panasonic. "I do a lot of Webinars, and a lot of in-person training. Health care is complex, and they need door-openers, something to show they understand a health-care workflow. Hopefully, with the training, reseller ABC goes to a customer and the customer mentions something and light bulbs go off."