KLAS: Epic and Cerner Still Dominate Acute EMR Market — For Now

When it comes to securing new hospital contracts, Epic and Cerner are still the clear frontrunners, but the rest of the race has become much more interesting. According to a new KLAS report, the two leading vendors captured more than three-quarters of new EMR business in 2012; however, there are many more deals to be made, and with that, opportunities for other players to gain some ground.

Although more than a quarter of hospitals with more than 200 beds have selected a new EMR since HITECH was introduced, another sizeable chunk (443 hospitals) are either running legacy systems or have no EMR at all, and will face decisions in the near future. A majority of these hospitals are running McKesson Horizon or Meditech Magic, the report notes. And even currently marketed products aren’t immune to turnover, as 39 percent of multi-hospital systems have heterogeneous environments and may eventually follow peers in standardizing on a single EMR.

“The question,” according to report author Colin Buckley, is which way these hospitals will go, “and which factors will guide that decision.”

If 2012 is any indication, Epic will continue to gobble up market share. For the fifth straight year, Epic secured the most new hospitals (47), including a number of prominent health systems, while Cerner continued its own upward trend with 23 new hospitals. Interestingly, Epic’s 2-to-1 lead over Cerner in new hospitals represents a narrowing gap from 5-to-1 in 2010. “Both vendors appeal to IDNs looking to standardize patchwork quilts of EMRs, but the market for IDNs with large hospitals, which have leaned toward Epic, is shrinking,” the report stated. “The remaining decisions are much more diverse, and the future may not be as lopsided.”

KLAS also found that McKesson secured 12 new hospitals, most of which were existing Horizon customers wanting to continue their relationship with the vendor, and noted that the remaining vendors featured in the research — Allscripts, Meditech, and Siemens — are “racing to recover from past stumbles and regain market share.”

To view the report, click here.