IDC Health Insights has released a new IDC MarketScape report designed to guide firms evaluating electronic medical record/electronic health record (EMR/EHR) vendors providing solutions to small physician practices. The new report, IDC MarketScape: U.S. Ambulatory EMR/EHR for Small Practices 2012 Vendor Assessment (Document #HI234732) provides an assessment of eleven EMR/EHR products from nine U.S.-based vendors that target small physician practices and qualify for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) incentives. In the report, IDC Health Insights provides an opinion on which vendors are well-positioned today through current capabilities and which are best positioned to gain market share over the next one to four years. Vendors included in the report are: ADP AdvancedMD; Allscripts; athenahealth; eClinicalWorks; Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.; LSS (MEDITECH); Lumeris; Optum (OptumInsight); and Practice Fusion.
IDC Health Insights expects the U.S. market to move from less than 25% adoption in 2009 to over 80% adoption by 2016. This anticipated growth is primarily influenced by regulatory stipulations and government incentives under the ARRA; additional trends include the quality of care improvements that result from using EMRs/EHRs in ambulatory practices, their growing capabilities and use of cloud computing, the use of mobile devices in ambulatory practices, and the consolidation of provider vendors as market saturation increases.
According to Judy Hanover, IDC Health Insights research director, “ARRA presents an unprecedented opportunity for providers in small practices to garner federal incentives for demonstrating meaningful use of clinical applications that will help to improve the quality of care, enhance patient safety and prepare their practices for the future. However, the EHR technology itself, the requirements and deadlines for achieving meaningful use and capturing incentives, and the need to change their business practices and integrate the new technology into practice patterns, present complex issues and challenges. If providers allow the constraints of meaningful use to dictate their technology choices and limit the goals for implementation, they may only see the short-term incentives and not the long-term strategic advantage that EHR can bring to their practices and may fail to compete under healthcare reform.”
With hundreds of small practice EMR/EHR vendors participating in the market, the vendors included in this report were carefully selected to include the top five market leaders in the U.S., and a selection of additional vendors that offer compelling technology, strategies or services, such as advanced software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings, innovative pricing or service options, platforms or architecture capabilities. This IDC Marketscape highlights the attributes and key capabilities that providers should look for when selecting an EMR/EHR, and offers a guide for using best practice-based approaches to leveraging an EMR/EHR to build competitive advantage in small practices.
Each product was evaluated against 25 criteria in two category measures for success: strategies and capabilities. Within each of these criteria, IDC Health Insights has weighted specific features of the product or the product’s vendor that are particularly significant for purchasers of the software and for users. A significant and unique component of this evaluation is the inclusion of customer references for all of the products included in the assessment.
Ms. Hanover will review the results of the IDC MarketScape in a one-hour, complimentary Web conference, EHR in the Small Ambulatory Practice: An IDC MarketScape Analysis, on Wednesday, June 6 at 12:00 p.m., U.S. Eastern time. She will also review best practices for implementing EMR/EHR in small ambulatory practices. Register here: http://bit.ly/JjEGj7.
