Pure’s exit surprises industry

The abrupt departure of influential healthcare information technology executive Pamela Pure from McKesson Corp. has left some in the industry scratching their heads and wondering what’s next for the IT giant.

The San Francisco-based pharmaceutical supply chain and electronic health-record developer announced unexpectedly last week that Pure, president of McKesson Technology Solutions and executive vice president of the corporation, had left effective March 30. Pure, one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare in 2005, was scheduled to give a presentation this week at a McKesson luncheon and news briefing during the annual Healthcare Information Management Systems and Society conference in Chicago.

The announcement triggered one analyst to downgrade the company’s stock to neutral from outperform. “Mounting headwinds” are generating concern for investors, according to R. W. Baird & Co. analyst Eric Coldwell in a market report. Pure’s departure adds to other economic conditions that have created selling pressures for the technology solutions business, Coldwell said in the report. He declined to comment for this story.

McKesson customers expressed their surprise at the announcement. Christopher Timbers, chief information officer and vice president of information systems at Suburban Hospital Healthcare System, Bethesda, Md., which is implementing a McKesson EHR system, said he doesn’t expect an impact in the short term. But he said in the long term the hospital could see some effect on its relationship with the vendor. “She seemed to have a strong focus on customer service,” Timber said. “I had seen the difference in the culture she had created around that.”

Steve Huffman, vice president and CIO at Memorial Health System, South Bend, Ind., which uses McKesson clinical and business software, said interactions with Pure were “always positive,” but added he is confident the company will facilitate a transition. Still, the timing will generate buzz at the HIMSS show, he said in an e-mail.

A company spokesman said Sunny Sanyal, chief operating officer of McKesson Technology Solutions, will be giving the HIMSS presentation. The company has declined to provide more information regarding Pure’s departure or whether they will name a replacement. Pure couldn’t be reached for comment.

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