Seeing the Big Picture in the US Hospital Market Share Report

Despite all the challenges US hospitals currently face, EMR purchasing continues to be high for hospitals and health systems both large and small. As we dig into the data from the US Hospital Market Share report, we see quite a few interesting stories surrounding some of the vendors in this space, and we’re excited to share some of them here.

Getting the Full Story

When reading the report, you need to look at the full story to see the truth for each vendor. Looking at the chart below, you can see one story about how many hospitals a vendor is winning. But another important story is the bed count or size of those hospitals. There are also compelling stories around vendors who are migrating customers and validated wins among specialty hospitals.

So, if you’re reading this chart to track a vendor’s performance, it is important to consider all the relevant factors. For example, looking at individual pieces of data, you could say that either Cerner won market share or Cerner lost market share, and really, both things are true as Cerner gained five net new hospitals but lost larger hospitals leading to a net decrease in beds.

Epic Continues to Win Market Share

Though we have said it before, it is worth repeating that Epic continues to win the most market share. They lose very few customers compared to the other vendors, and the losses they do have are due to mergers and acquisitions or standardization with an IDN. It's remarkable what Epic is still able to do at the scale they are at with the majority of market share. They have a third of the total market by themselves, and they still don’t lose a single customer in competitive deals.

A major reason for this is Epic has proven to have the most consistent experience with the fewest headaches for customers. Epic delivers strong software across EMR, PA, analytics, and ancillary services through consistent, customer-driven development. In addition, they have strong customer collaboration and tight integration with all their solutions customers use, hence why so few leave.

We talk about Epic’s successes a lot, but we mean every word because the stories about those successes come straight from Epic’s provider customers. For example, we just had a call with a customer who talked about things that Epic has done wrong. But the customer finished by saying that Epic is still by far the best vendor they’ve ever worked with.

The MEDITECH Miracle

MEDITECH has had a little bit of a yo-yo trajectory where they have gone up and down over the years but have trended positively overall. This year was a bigger up. Of MEDITECH’s customers who made decisions, MEDITECH was able to retain 74% or about three-fourths of them. Looking at that data and some other indicators, we can honestly say this year was a breakout year for MEDITECH Expanse. The customer feedback continues to be positive, and we don't anticipate any changes to that. When you look at recent Decision Insights data, there are quite a few considerations going MEDITECH’s way.

The fact that MEDITECH has been able to turn things around has been nothing short of miraculous. There are still a lot of legacy customers who are going to be making decisions, and there will still be some uphill battles for MEDITECH. But they are actively competing, winning deals, and moving forward in the market, and we haven't really seen anyone else be able to turn things around quite like that.

Question Marks Over Cerner, CPSI, and MEDHOST

2022 will be an interesting year for Cerner with all the recent changes. They have a new CEO, introduced the new RevElate revenue cycle solution, and announced the Oracle acquisition. Individually, these announcements are big news, and combined, they are likely to influence the long-term plans of current and potential customers. It’s too soon to see how these changes will make an impact, but we’ll be surprised if market share doesn’t shift in some way as a direct result.

There are also question marks over CPSI and MEDHOST for now. Both vendors are relatively stable in their own niches, though they have their losses. They provide economical solutions, but with growing competition from vendors like Cerner, MEDITECH, and Epic, it remains to be seen whether CPSI and MEDHOST will continue to maintain those niches.

Why It Matters

We publish this report each year because it helps healthcare professionals stay ahead of the curve of what is happening and keep an eye on any shifts. For example, Allscripts recently finalized selling their hospital and large physician business to Harris. For multiple years prior to this, KLAS tracked Allscripts losing market share, and that helped to show the market that a significant change was needed.

A lot of healthcare professionals want to see how their EMR vendor is doing in the market. If your vendor is losing market share, that usually causes concerns about the future, like whether a company is going to have the money to keep their promises or to keep developing. Conversely, if your vendor is growing, that growth may help provide a sense of security in knowing that others agree that the solution is viable for the future.

This report is unique to KLAS because it includes definitive numbers. If you really want to understand what's happening with different breakouts in acute care EMR market share, no other report provides the same level of insights. For these reasons and to understand what is happening in this space, we recommend reading the report. If you need any other information or different views on the data, please feel free to reach out to us. We’re happy to help.

Photo Credit: metamorworks, Adobe Stock