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KLAS report looks at the market for hospital information system purchases of community Hospital IT Requirements

While the past purchase decisions where cost and resource requirements dominated, community hospital executives now consider physician adoption the major criterion when purchasing a hospital information system (HIS) solution, according to the report titled 'Disruption in Community HIS Purchases: It’s All About Physician Adoption'from KLAS. In the course of research, KLAS interviewed 64 community hospitals with fewer than 200 beds that were planning to purchase an HIS. The research found that, in light of new meaningful use requirements, many community hospital executives are now considering more complex – and often more costly – IT solutions, which many providers perceive as supporting greater clinician adoption.

Meditech continues to dominate provider mindshare for HIS solutions, with McKesson also gaining significant traction recently. Meditech leverages its reputation as a low-cost, integrated solution, with 70 percent of providers including Meditech in their selection process. McKesson Paragon was the next most-considered solution, with 48 percent of providers planning to include Paragon in their due diligence. However, the focus on physician adoption is also bringing a new group of vendors into purchasing discussions. Among other vendors, Cerner was mentioned by 30 percent of respondents as a solution they would consider, followed by Eclipsys and Epic at 16 percent each, and then Siemens Soarian at 8 percent.

“The ARRA is driving the emphasis on physician adoption,” said Paul Pitcher, KLAS research director and author of the community HIS report. “Meaningful use requirements are forcing buyers to focus on this issue rather than cost and infrastructure, which were the much more significant criteria in the past.”

The KLAS report also notes that, while 95 percent of hospitals with more than 200 beds have already chosen their clinical information system, many more new buying decisions are occurring among smaller organizations. In effect, the community hospital market is the new battleground.