New Global Small and Mid Cap Health IT Index

The accompanying table presents statistics and the top five rated companies in the ETFI Global Health Information Technology (IT) Index, which is structured to include companies with market caps between $100M - $10B with the following business operations:

1.) electronic transmission, storage, and processing of prescriptions – such as Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions (MDRX)

2.) secure e-mail transmission for healthcare facilities – such as Zix Corp (ZIXI)

3.) electronic storage and systems for administrative functions of healthcare facilities and medical records – such as Cerner (CERN)

4.) electronic transmission, storage, and systems for healthcare market data and clinical trial data – such as IMS Health (RX)

5.) electronic systems, devices, and services for remote, real-time monitoring of patient health parameters – such as Card Guard (CDGUF.PK)

6.) medical transcription services, products, and systems for conversion into electronic medical records – such as Transcend Services (TRCR)

Both the top 25 rated and all 39 companies in the Health IT Index have outpaced their benchmark ETFs, posting a loss of 15.2% and 24.5%, respectively, in the past year compared to losses of 43% for Vanguard IT (VGT), 27% for Healthcare SPDR (XLV), and 43% for the Technology SPDR (XLK).

 

The index is now structured to exclude larger companies such as Philips (PHG), FujiFilm (FUJI), and General Electric (GE) which have Health IT & Medical Imaging business segments which account for a small amount of overall sales and profits. The outlook is bullish for the small and mid-cap companies in the Health IT Index as President-elect Obama plans to invest $50B over five years to improve the quality of healthcare in the U.S.