By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    Balance Work & Life: Working Hours Tracker Can Prevent Burnout
    February 29, 2024
    car accident
    6 Tips for Faster Car Accident Recovery
    May 27, 2024
    The Impact of Virtual Healthcare Assistants on Clinical Practices
    August 1, 2024
    Latest News
    The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
    May 22, 2025
    Chewing Matters More Than You Think: Why Proper Chewing Supports Better Health
    May 22, 2025
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Year-End Health Policy Musings
    December 25, 2011
    Engage With Grace
    November 22, 2012
    State of Virginia Attaches Amendment to Bill Requiring Women to Have an Ultrasound Before an Abortion That Requires Men to Have A Rectal Exam Before Obtaining A Prescription For Erectile Dysfunction Drugs
    January 31, 2012
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Numbers Don’t Lie – The EHR Market Simply Must Consolidate
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Medical Records > Numbers Don’t Lie – The EHR Market Simply Must Consolidate
Medical Records

Numbers Don’t Lie – The EHR Market Simply Must Consolidate

ConorGreen
Last updated: August 3, 2012 8:34 am
ConorGreen
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

According to CMS, through May of this year, 2,400 hospitals and 110,000 eligible professionals have received $5.7 billion in incentive payments for ensuring meaningful use of electronic health records, representing about half of all eligible hospitals and about 20% of all eligible providers.

According to CMS, through May of this year, 2,400 hospitals and 110,000 eligible professionals have received $5.7 billion in incentive payments for ensuring meaningful use of electronic health records, representing about half of all eligible hospitals and about 20% of all eligible providers.

Despite this widespread adoption EHRs, reliable market share data by vendor is still very hard to come by.  So, when CMS recently updated its attestation data for midyear 2012, we took notice.  Attestation, remember, is the process by which practitioners legally verify that they have used an EHR in way that merits one of those incentive payments.  The data set includes more than 77,000 different attestations from 2011 through May of 2012 (note that it is not immediately clear why the data set has different totals than the CMS press release).

The sheer number of options for hospitals and providers stood out to us immediately.  There are 405 separate EHR vendors that hospitals or providers have used to attest to meaningful use, with 336 of these providing ambulatory EHR products.  It’s worth pausing here to note that by our count of the data found on the CMS Certified Health IT Product List, there are more than 550 separate ambulatory vendors with complete EHRs approved by CMS, meaning that despite the huge number of options, there were still well over 200 approved ambulatory vendors that have not had a single user qualify for an incentive payment yet!

More Read

Keeping Patient Data Secure in a Digital World
Workers’ Compensation and ICD-10
What Happens to Health IT When Necessity Is the Mother of Invention?
Protect Personal Info from Medical Thieves
4 Ways to Enhance Clinical Documentation to Resolve Headaches as a Provider

Despite this enormous number of options, users attesting were fairly concentrated in the top vendors.  Of these 336, the top 15 vendors represented 75% of all providers attesting.  On the inpatient side, this concentration was even more pronounced, with the top 6 representing 75% of the total hospital attestations.

When we organize and dig into the data, a few other points stand out.

First, on the inpatient side, Cerner, MEDITECH, Epic, and Allscripts are the clear market leaders (particularly when you include HCA’s total in the MEDITECH column).  Cerner’s recent earnings call included the note that 45% of their hospital clients have attested, which allows us to back into their installed hospital base.

The biggest surprise on this list is probably McKesson’s place at the bottom of the Top 10, since it was reported to have nearly 12% of the hospital market by Modern Healthcare Magazine as recently as 2011.

On the ambulatory side, there are a few things to note as well.  First, the number of Epic users – the company does not market an ambulatory EHR, yet leads the list by far.  Their dominant position here more than likely points to just how many hospitals have acquired clinics or now operate them in some way, a trend that has been continuing in recent months.   Also interesting is the track record that Practice Fusion has amassed with its free EHR model supported by advertising, moving into 8th place overall in this list, and beating out more traditional players like Cerner (#9), Sage (#12), and McKesson (#14) .

Stepping back, some larger questions and points arise.  Take a company like athenahealth, which reported 6,000+ physician users of its athenaClinicals product in its most recent 10-Q.  On its website, Athena reports that “almost half” of its athenaClinicals providers are pursuing meaningful use and that 85% of these have successfully attested.  That math basically tracks to the 2,000 number shown here, but it raises a question about what the other 3,000 providers are doing.  Many of these companies are more opaque about their users, but it would be a fascinating exercise to match this data with their installed base of users to see who has had the most success qualifying their users for meaningful use incentive payments.

To us, the key takeaway from all of this data is that the existing market is probably not sustainable.  Considering that one of the goals of the Meaningful Use incentive program has always been to improve interoperability in our healthcare industry, it’s hard to imagine that this market is best-served by having 600+ different vendors marketing thousands of different products.  It certainly seems ripe for consolidation, particularly in the face of continued hospital-clinic alignment (and now payer-provider alignment as well), and the eventual drying up of Meaningful Use incentive payments.

Ironically, according to Mercom Capital Group roughly $150m in venture capital has been poured into the EMR/EHR market in the last 18 months, pointing to continued confidence (or overconfidence!) in this space.

Let us know what you think.

 

TAGGED:ALLSCRIPTSATHENAHEALTHCernerCMSconsolidationEHREMREpichealthcare industryHealthlandMcKessonmeaningful useMEDITECHPractice Fusion
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

stress impact your health
The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
Health Wellness
May 22, 2025
chewing better for health
Chewing Matters More Than You Think: Why Proper Chewing Supports Better Health
Dental health Health
May 22, 2025
Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Do You Grind Your Teeth at Night? Here’s How Night Guards and TMJ Treatments Can Help
Dental health
May 21, 2025
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
The Secret To A Confident Smile: Top Tips For Better Teeth
Dental health
May 21, 2025

You Might also Like

Another Side of Don Berwick

July 16, 2011
EHR
DiagnosticseHealthHealth ReformMedical InnovationsMedical RecordsTechnology

Why EHRs are Key to Better Clinical Data

April 29, 2014

It’s Never Too Late: Process Improvements After An EHR Implementation

June 9, 2012
eHealthMedical RecordsMobile Health

What Is Interoperability and Why Is It Important in Healthcare?

July 16, 2018
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?