Current Trends in US Hospital EMR Market Share
From January to December 2022, the EMR market in the US has continued to move at a healthy click. Most of the energy that KLAS is seeing is happening in the small hospital space. Though we thought the pandemic would slow purchasing down, overall it turns out that it didn’t make too much of an impact. Instead, we’ve had steady progress year over year in terms of the number of deals and organizations making EMR changes.
This trend speaks to the resilience of the market and the long-term nature of these bigger technology decisions. Economic shifts and pandemics do have an influence, but it does not derail EMR decisions completely. Our recent report, US Hospital EMR Market Share 2023, gives these and many other critical updates for everyone wanting to know more about the current state of the market.
Updates on the Big Players
Epic continues to dominate market share in terms of both the number of new hospitals and the number of beds. Over the past year, they had one loss, but overall, they are the only vendor that consistently trends upward year over year. This is driven by a lot of the same factors that we’ve seen before, such as integration or the ability to easily share with other Epic sites and consolidation as Epic continues to bring more hospitals onto their solution. Add those factors to Epic’s great customer experience and its clear why Epic is such a strong, reliable vendor.
Like in years past, Oracle Health (Cerner) continues to win many small hospitals while losing market share with many larger hospitals. The total number of hospitals they gained increased by double digits, and that is great to see. However, the vendor still lost almost 5,000 beds simply because the smaller hospitals they signed on have fewer patients than the larger hospitals they lost. The loss of larger hospitals is driven by ongoing problems with the revenue cycle. Although the RevElate solution is supposed to be a great answer to that issue, many larger customers tell KLAS they can’t wait anymore for problems to be resolved. The smaller hospital space has historically been more insulated from revenue cycle issues, though in recent years, scores from smaller hospitals have declined to be more on par with larger organizations. Oracle Health continues to have the most traction in picking up small hospital customers because many see CommunityWorks system as being a modern EHR at an affordable price point.
MEDITECH had record-high legacy migrations as many of their customers moved from MAGIC to Expanse. Their legacy retention rate is at 84%, which is significant in comparison to other vendors. Unfortunately, they did go backward this year in terms of total beds and total hospitals. It will be interesting to see whether they continue to win next year because we don’t often see them being considered by the larger organizations. They are also battling with Oracle Health and Epic in the small hospital space. With Oracle Health’s declining scores, we could potentially see some customers opting for Expanse over the cost of Epic.
A Challenge to Providers: Act Based on the Data
Increasingly, hospitals looking for a new EHR want to find a safe option with a vendor that will be a good long-term partner. While every EHR vendor has customers that have been successful using their products, the average customer’s experience gives the best indicator of what new clients can expect. To avoid any surprises, we hope that customers will take this report and give the most attention to the current customer experience. Organizations should see where customers are moving and making decisions. Asking the tough questions now and getting real answers can save people from a lot of pain in the future.
This annual market share report serves as a powerful tool to cut through the noise of marketing and provide valuable insights into the reality of the situation. By analyzing customer perception scores and sales data, organizations can make more informed decisions about their future direction and strategy. For some, the report may validate popular trends and be an indicator that they should align themselves with the majority. For others, they may see discrepancies between sales and customer scores, prompting them to be cautious and explore alternative options.
Because these reports have been done for years, there are important lessons to be learned by looking through previous reports and watching long-term trends. By studying different vendor approaches, organizations can determine the impact of prioritizing customer success versus focusing solely on short-term sales. These best practices and insights allow organizations to steer clear of potential pitfalls and make smarter decisions for their own success.
To learn more about other vendors, see market share by region, and understand the trends more deeply, we recommend reading the full report.