HIT Purchasing Trends 2016 (U.S.)
The Shift From Foundational to Transformational IT

1. ALLSCRIPTS, MCKESSON, AND MEDITECH CUSTOMERS STILL FOCUSED ON FOUNDATIONAL IT

Allscripts, McKesson, and MEDITECH all have at least 60% of customers on their go-forward platforms putting energy into foundational IT. These providers have purchasing patterns similar to those of the legacy populations. Allscripts and McKesson customers are looking outside of their vendor for both acute and ambulatory EMR offerings, hoping to achieve deeper integration. MEDITECH customers are focused on filling gaps with MEDITECH’s new ambulatory EMR. Evident and MEDHOST customers are fighting battles common to small community and critical access hospitals.

2. EPIC'S AND CERNER'S STRONG FOUNDATIONS FACILITATE TRANSFORMATIONAL FOCUS

Epic’s foundational portfolio is the most mature, and only 14% of customers are putting energy into foundational IT. Providers credit Epic’s sharing of best practices, good functionality, and tight integration with allowing them to transition from foundational to transformational buying. Cerner has the most customers buying transformational solutions, but just as many are putting energy into foundational systems. Many are Soarian customers adopting Millennium, while others are Millennium customers working to adopt Cerner’s ambulatory PM and maturing revenue cycle solutions. A few others say they are replacing Millennium with Epic.

3. CERNER CONSIDERATION BUMP FOR POPULATION HEALTH-THE HOTTEST TRANFORMATIONAL AREA

Provider options are wide open as vendors rush to provide transformational IT solutions. Five of the nine solutions most often listed as front-runners are tied in some way to EMR vendors. Most notably, Cerner customers, encouraged by improvements to HealtheIntent, say the population health solution is finally mature enough to adopt. Epic considerations represent ongoing adoption of BI and population health solutions. Allscripts is also a highly considered transformational partner, with customers looking to dbMotion to unify data sources and facilitate population health. Health Catalyst and Optum are the most mentioned third-party vendors.

4. IMAGING IT PURCHASES MENTIONED TWO TIMES MORE THAN ANY OTHER DEPARTMENT

Imaging IT used to be a RIS/PACS replacement market, but with the emergence of enterprise imaging and expanded adoption of cardiology/oncology, the market has more green field—half of decisions were for additional, not replacement, technology. Epic modules are considered to leverage integration. McKesson, Merge, and Philips also garner significant interest, but only Merge is mentioned as a front-runner more often than they are being replaced. GE Healthcare has the unhealthiest mix and is five times more likely to be replaced than to be a front-runner.

ADDITIONAL TAKEAWAYS

1. THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF BEING ON LEGACY EMRS

Providers running legacy EMRs are stuck focusing their time and energy on foundational IT systems—hindering their ability to move on to a more transformational focus. Almost 90% of legacy EMR customers are making foundational IT purchases, while less than one-third are buying transformational solutions.

2. MEDITECH CUSTOMERS GEARING UP FOR NEW AMBULATORY SOLUTION

MEDITECH’s customers are anxiously waiting for and planning to adopt MEDITECH’s web-based ambulatory EMR. These providers anticipate it will be a step up from LSS and will be fully integrated with 6.0. This product has a completely new build, with very limited adoption, and as such, there is much yet to be proven in real-world settings.

3. ATHENAHEALTH ONLY INDEPENDENT VENDOR TO GAIN TRACTION IN HOSPITAL-AFFILIATED CLINICS

On average, independent ambulatory EMRs are three to four times more likely to be replaced than they are to be named as a front-runner. In contrast, athenahealth is three times more likely to be listed as a likely choice than they are to be replaced.

4. AS HIE PURCHASING SLOWS, DBMOTION PICKS UP STEAM

At a time when HIEs are going through an identity crisis, dbMotion is picking up steam. dbMotion is specified as the leading candidate in HIE three times more often than the nearest HIE vendor. Most providers looking to dbMotion are Allscripts EMR customers planning to share data between their acute and ambulatory care settings; many indicate that they anticipate using dbMotion for analytics at some point in the future.

5. ONLY 1 OF 12 EDIS DECISIONS LEANING BEST OF BREED

Integration continues to trump functionality in the ED, with EDIS decisions being spread out across several EMR vendors. T-System is the only best-of-breed vendor named as a front-runner. Other high-performing best-of-breed vendors like Wellsoft and Picis are not even mentioned.

6. CERNER SURGINET AND EPIC BEAKER MATURING

Cerner was mentioned as the likely choice in 7 of 15 surgery decisions. Most were moving from paper and find the integration combined with the improved functionality and usability to be compelling. Sixteen providers are considering lab replacements, and eight indicate they plan to move to Epic. More providers are seeing Beaker as a viable option that will allow them to save on lab system costs and have integration.

Designer
Natalie Jamison