athenahealth, Inc (ATHN), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM): Obamacare’s Doctor Dilemma

One company working to help make physicians more efficient is athenahealth, Inc (NASDAQ:ATHN). In June, health-care research firm KLAS named the company’s electronic medical record system as the top-ranked system for physicians in terms of usability, efficiency, and effectiveness. The stock is up 44% year-to-date.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) hopes to change the way physicians provide care with its Watson technology. Big Blue is targeting the natural language capabilities, hypothesis generation, and evidence-based learning capabilities of Watson to support doctors in diagnosing and treating patients. What could be interesting is how this technology might also enable other health-care providers such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide higher level of care.

Some observers maintain that the physician shortage is really more of a location problem. Some areas have plenty of doctors while others have too few. Telemedicine is a technology that could help alleviate this issue. Research firm InMedica thinks that the use of telemedicine and related technologies will explode more than 700% by 2017.

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) looks to be a winner if this prediction comes true. Its Qualcomm Life unit focuses on remote health management. The company’s 2Net cloud platform for connecting biometric devices to remotely hosted applications opens the door to a wide array of possibilities for health-care providers to remotely monitor patients.

Even if other solutions are implemented to help solve the nation’s doctor dilemma, these technology companies should benefit from increased use of their products. A shortfall in the number of physicians could lead to a windfall for smart investors.

The article Obamacare’s Doctor Dilemma originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Keith Speights.

Fool contributor Keith Speights has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Athenahealth. The Motley Fool owns shares of International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM). and Qualcomm.

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