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Epic captures nearly 40 percent of new large hospital EMR sales in 2008; McKesson and Siemens earn unusual wins.

The annual clinical market share report of KLAS, the healthcare technology research firm says that the EMR market met with a 7 year low sales fall in 2008, and expects to be recovered during the year 2009. The annual clinical market share report details the wins and losses of acute care electronic medical record (EMR) vendors at large hospitals with more than 200 beds.

The report titled ' Physicians, Nurses, and EMR Adoption: Which Solutions are CEOs Betting On?, reflects data collected from more than 1,600 hospitals over 200 beds in the United States and Canada. Though the report acknowledges the seven-year low in EMR sales, it also notes that the recent past does not appear to be an indication of the future.

The report says that in 2008, EMR vendors sold the fewest number of new contracts in the United States and Canada in the seven years since KLAS began tracking clinical market share information. However, despite a tough economy, Epic continued to make gains among large hospitals, capturing nearly 40 percent of the new business. Beyond the steady progress of Epic EpicCare Inpatient, Siemens Soarian Clinicals and McKesson Paragon Clinicals also found some unusual wins in 2008.

Siemens was able to communicate its vision for Soarian to providers outside its client base, as five non-Siemens hospitals (four organizations) bought Soarian in 2008, despite the product’s historically low computerized physician order entry (CPOE) adoption. McKesson Paragon also made some surprising inroads with larger hospitals, given its reputation as a smaller community hospital solution. Of the 12 McKesson EMR wins in hospitals over 200 beds, four of the organizations chose Paragon as opposed to Horizon.

Coming to other top-tier vendors like Cerner and Eclipsys, the KLAS report noted that leadership in CPOE adoption did not necessarily translate into EMR wins. As validated by KLAS earlier this year, Cerner has the highest number of hospitals doing CPOE, and Eclipsys has the greatest number of physicians doing CPOE – yet neither vendor was among the top three in new large hospital EMR sales in the United States and Canada in 2008. Vendors including GE, Meditech, Medsphere and QuadraMed also were highlighted in the report.

" The advent of new meaningful use requirements, plus the ongoing debate around broader healthcare reform, has many organizations looking for a new clinical information system,” said Jason Hess, KLAS general manager of clinical research and author of the new report. “During this study, KLAS identified more than 400 large hospitals that either have no EMR or are using a legacy system; and we are already aware of purchasing activity that, if the rate continues, will far exceed 2008 sales." he added.

Source: KLAS