Judy Hanover, IDC Health Insights: EMR/EHR adoption rates expected to rise to over 80%

November 28, 2012

The IDC MarketScape: U.S. Ambulatory EMR/EHR for Midsize and Large Practices 2011 Vendor Assessment provides an assessment of ten EMR/EHR products that target midsize and large 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.

IDC Health Insights expects the market to move from less than 25% adoption in 2009 to over 80% adoption by 2016. This anticipated growth is fueled in part by regulatory stipulations and government incentives under the ARRA; additional trends include the quality of care improvements that result from using 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.

This IDC MarketScape examines ten products from eight leading vendors with a significant presence in the EMR/EHR technology market for midsize and large ambulatory practices, and provides a quantitative analysis of their current capabilities and future strategies. Vendors included in the report are: Allscripts, Cerner Corporation, eClinicalWorks, Epic Systems, GE Healthcare, McKesson Corporation, NextGen Healthcare, and Sage Healthcare Division.

Each product has been evaluated against 48 criteria and divided between two main categories: strategy and capabilities measures for success. 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. According to Judy Hanover, IDC Health Insights research director, "To meet all of the challenges of EMR/EHR adoption and get to meaningful use while preparing for healthcare reform, it is clear that ambulatory providers need integrated EMR/EHR solutions that address not only the total cost of ownership for the technology but also the infrastructure, workflow, and human factor issues associated with the new technologies. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for EMR/EHR, and each application should be evaluated on the basis of its unique characteristics and fit with a particular practice."