McKesson and Cisco invest in RelayHealth

Online doctor/patient messaging company RelayHealth has announced strategic investments from McKesson, a leading healthcare IT company, and Cisco, the leader in computer networking. It's the first health care company I know of that Cisco has invested in, and a testament to the strength of RelayHealth.As I've written here, here, and here, RelayHealth improves doctor/patient interactions, improves service levels, and allows physicians to generate incremental revenues and reduce administrative costs. Sophisticated customers such as Hill Physicians implement RelayHealth first, and then require that their electronic medical record vendors integrate with the company's application. The return on investment from electronic medical records can be a long time in coming for a physician practice, while RelayHealth pays off right away.Expect to hear more exciting news from RelayHealth as the company puts the new investment to work.I've consulted to RelayHealth for the past four years and it's exciting to see the company really take off.