EMR Software to Grow at 12 Percent Annually

According to Toronto, Ont.-based research firm, Millennium Research Group (MRG), government intervention in the market through “meaningful use” incentive payments will drive strong growth in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) market in the next few years. After 2015, Medicare penalties for care delivery organizations that have not installed EMRs will continue to support demand. As a result, the EMR market will grow to over $8.3 billion by 2016.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act /Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA/HITECH) was enacted to promote the use of EMRs to create a modernized and improved healthcare system. This act has allocated approximately $19 billion for EMR adoption incentives. Hospitals and physicians who meet meaningful use requirements will receive incentive payments. These payments will start to decrease in 2013 and 2014.

Hospitals and eligible providers who do not meet meaningful use requirements by 2015 will face a penalty in the form of a one percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement per year to a maximum of five percent. The decreasing incentive and the increasing penalty will be strong drivers for earlier adoption of EMRs. In addition, many hospitals are choosing to replace existing systems rather than upgrade to meet meaningful use certification requirements. As a result, the overall market will grow at an average rate of over 12 percent per year through 2016.

Allscripts has the largest share of the ambulatory care EMR market, while Meditech has the largest installed base in the acute care EMR market. Other EMR competitors include Epic Systems, Cerner, McKesson, Siemens Healthcare, GE Healthcare, eClinicalWorks, NextGen Healthcare and Sage.