Larger hospitals are choosing EHRs that enable them to meet Meaningful Use requirements--and they aren't willing to wait for vendors to catch up, according to a new report from KLAS Research.
The study, across 1,470 American and 151 Canadian hospitals of 200 beds or more, reported that although sales have slowed now that many hospitals have implemented EHR systems, they still "moved at a fairly good clip" as some hospitals entered the market and others opted to change vendors.
EPIC and Cerner moved into first and second place for EHR market share, grabbing more than 80 percent of new hospital contracts. Allscripts, McKesson and Siemens are all vendors in "flux." MEDITECH, GE and Quadramed are losing ground.
"Many providers who might normally be patient with their vendors feel they can't afford to wait," said report author Colin Buckley. "They want an integrated platform with stable Meaningful Use functionality that their physicians won't fight them over. Additionally, Meaningful Use deadlines are forcing some providers back to the market sooner than expected."
The study also revealed, among other things:
- MEDITECH, Epic, and Cerner are the most successful with Meaningful Use attestation.
- Epic was first and Cerner second in clinician satisfaction.
- Epic, Cerner and Siemens customers report steady performance in implementation. McKesson and MEDITECH have seen implementation quality slip.
- Few Allscripts clients attested in 2011.
Vendors have long been seen as having significant power and leverage compared to their hospital clients. This may be shifting somewhat as hospitals move into Stage 2 of Meaningful Use and will need to rely even further on their EHR systems.
To learn more:
- here's the KLAS announcement
- purchase the study