According to a new report from Orem, Utah-based KLAS, physician practices are considering an ever-increasing number of software vendors for EMRs.
Well-established vendors Allscripts (Chicago), NextGen (Atlanta) and eClinicalWorks (Westborough, Mass.) still maintain the most mindshare in the ambulatory EMR market, however, and are considered in one of every three purchase decisions, the study adds.
For the new report, Ambulatory EMR Buying: A Roller Coaster Ride in 2010, KLAS interviewed more than 370 healthcare providers who plan to choose an EMR solution in the next two years, to discover which EMR vendors are making the short list. KLAS found that providers are increasing, not reducing, their pool of considered vendors, including lesser-known options. This is especially true for small practices with one to five physicians, where 72 percent are considering solutions outside the best-known vendors. In similar fashion, larger practices are also considering vendors that have traditionally serviced smaller organizations.
The KLAS report also found that among providers planning an EMR purchase, nearly a third of them are actually replacing an existing solution. Further, half of the providers planning a switch are doing so because their current EMR lacks functionality or certification – in short, because they are not viable go-forward strategies in today’s ARRA-focused healthcare environment.
Which ambulatory EMR vendors providers are considering varies significantly depending on practice size. For more information about the ambulatory EMR market, as well as in-depth provider perceptions of participating vendors, Ambulatory EMR Buying: A Roller Coaster Ride in 2010 is available at www.KLASresearch.com/reports.
