The 2017 Best in KLAS Software and Services report, released this week by Orem, Utah-based KLAS, named the top-performing companies within various market segments based on customer feedback, and once again Epic earned the ranking of number-one Overall Software Suite.
It’s the seventh straight year that Epic has secured the top spot, with Cerner ranked number two, and the company also was named the top Overall Physician Practice Vendor, with athenahealth ranked number two. Additionally, Epic received Best in KLAS awards in eight segments—acute care EMR (large hospital/IDN); health information exchange; laboratory (large hospital/IDN); patient accounting and patient management (large hospital/IDN); patient portals; ambulatory EMR (over 75 physicians); ambulatory EMR (11-75 physicians) and practice management (over 75 physicians).
Optimum Healthcare IT and Premier received overall Best in KLAS awards as well. Optimum Healthcare IT was named Overall IT Services Firm and won one Best in KLAS. Premier earned Overall Best in KLAS for Healthcare Management Consulting Firm, a new category this year, and garnered four Best in KLAS awards.
The annual KLAS report names the top-performing healthcare IT and services companies based on customer feedback. The full list of Best in KLAS winners and software category leaders can be found here.
Cerner, CareTech Solutions, MedSys Group, and Merge, an IBM Company, each won two Best in KLAS awards. Cerner received Best in KLAS for application hosting and surgical management. CareTech Solutions was named Best in KLAS for extensive IT outsourcing and partial IT outsourcing. MedSys Group received Best in KLAS for HIT advisory group and HIT implementation support and staffing. And, Merge was named Best in KLAS for the VNA/Image Archive segment and cardiology.
It’s interesting to note that this year Epic was named Best in KLAS for the segment of ambulatory EMR for between 11 and 75 physicians, as athenahealth received that designation last year. The Watertown, Mass.-based vendor received one Best in KLAS award—practice management (11-75 physicians).
A new Best in KLAS category, cyber security advisory services, was added to this year’s Best in KLAS rankings. Austin, Texas-based CynergisTek, now an Auxilio company, earned the number one ranking in that new category.
The 2017 Best in KLAS report included the new Payer Solutions awards segment. Casenet TruCare was named Best in KLAS for care management solutions and Verscend Quality Reporting was Best in KLAS for payer quality analytics and reporting.
According the report authors, increasing numbers of healthcare provider organizations are beginning to offer their own health plans as they consider how to provide the best, most holistic health services and coverage. “While some of these provider-owned health plans have been inplace for decades, new market changes and factors like Medicare Advantage Plans and the Affordable Care Act are influencing a new generation of health systems to step into the payer arena. These organizations are often new to the payer business, and they rely heavily on vendor solutions to help them process claims, enroll members, and manage insurance products,” the report authors wrote.
To reflect these changes in the market, products in the Care Management Solutions and Payer Quality Analytics and Reporting segments are now eligible for Best in KLAS awards. Also, Payer Claims & Administration Platforms has been added as a category leader segment. The data KLAS has gathered on these segments comes from both provider-owned health plans and standalone health plans, and the payer products featured in this report are often used by both, the report authors wrote.
Another highlight from this report was Verity 340B, from Verity Solutions, gaining 17 percentage points (on a 100-point scale) since last year to become the most improved software product. Additionally, Peak Outsourced Coding, from Peak Health Solutions, is the most improved services product, gaining 21 percentage points. NextGen Healthcare EPM (over 75 Physicians) was the most improved physician practice product, increasing 12 percentage points over last year.
“The Best in KLAS report celebrates and recognizes vendors who have made significant strides to improve healthcare while addressing changes like payment reform and the shift to population health,” Adam Gale, president of KLAS, said in a statement. “The KLAS team applauds your efforts and acknowledges your commitment to innovation and achievement. As the years go by, we are continually humbled by the number of providers who share their experiences with us; they make all our reports, especially our Best in KLAS report, possible.”
KLAS also released its 2017 Global (Non-U.S.) Best in KLAS Software report, which names the top-performing healthcare IT software suppliers in global markets as reported by providers. InterSystems won two Best in KLAS awards – for acute care EMR and patient administration systems, and three category leader awards. Sectra earned one Best in KLAS award – for PACS, and one category leader award.
The Global Best in KLAS report examines the performance of healthcare IT products in regions outside the United States, including Asia/Oceania, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. This year’s report gives Best in KLAS awards for products in three market segments: acute care EMRs, patient administration systems (PAS), and PACS products.
The report found that PACS is still one of the hottest purchasing areas, but that global providers are looking for more holistic, enterprise imaging solutions. The report also found that interest in population health by providers is at an early stage, but growing. “Providers also cited a need for suppliers who can go beyond selling functionality and help them achieve deep, multi-department adoption of documentation, CPOE, ePrescribing and other capabilities,” the report authors wrote.
