According to a new report from New York City-based research firm Kalorama Information, six companies earn over half of the revenue in the EMR market. The research company says there are however opportunities for smaller EMR products to grow; leadership of the $17.9 billion market for EMR is more fluid than it might appear from those results. The research appears in the firm’s report, EMR 2012: The Market for Electronic Medical Records.
The top companies in the electronic medical records market in terms of revenue earned in 2011, according to Kalorama Information, were Cerner (Kansas City), McKesson (San Francisco), Siemens (Washington D.C.), GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisc.), Epic (Verona, Wisc.) and Allscripts (Chicago).
"I think the firms to watch among the six are Allscripts and Epic as they compete with each other for customers and seek to cement their position as top EMR choices," Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information, said in a statement. "The other four companies are obvious leaders that have long-standing relationships as hospital vendors given their experience in patient management and other areas. All of these companies are well-positioned to earn revenues not only from software sales, but from customizing, consulting and training as well."
According to Kalorama, these companies need to work better at building brand awareness with physicians and other healthcare providers, as survey results continue to see scattered results for user favorites. The presence of a few consistent leaders in EMR should not discourage competition, the research firm says. Among the smaller companies are NextGen, Athenahealth, eClinicalworks, Abraxas, Ingenix, Integritas, Intivia, iSalus, Keane, Visonta, Advanced Data Systems, AllMeds, AmazingCharts, Aprima, ChartLogic, CliniComp, CPSI, Greenway Medical, Healthland, HMS, CureMD, and many others.
The report says there is still plenty of demand for companies that can deliver an integrated suite of products, though local and niche players that develop specific applications may be eliminated. Carlson notes that 2011 found web-based EMR companies coming into their own.
