Cerner Corporation and its technology have a leg up on other EHR vendors when it comes to the EHR selection process globally, according to a recent KLAS report which suggests that the EHR vendor’s international popularity stems from its ease-of-use, general functionality, and contracting flexibility.
The report, which explores the most widely considered EHR vendor adoptions around the globe, identifies several other vendors as top contenders for EHR adoption. Following closely behind Cerner for global consideration was Epic Systems.
“More providers are strongly considering Epic than in the past thanks to Epic’s functionality, big-bang implementation methodology, and strong customer partnerships,” the report explained.
Also widely considered were other multi-regional, large vendors such as InterSystems, Allscripts, Meditech, and Agfa HealthCare.
KLAS also took a closer look at trends in the United Kingdom, finding that while Cerner is still inarguably one of the most broadly considered EHR platforms, Epic has overall grown enormously within the past three years.
In 2012 only 26 percent of UK healthcare organizations were considering adopting Epic, while now 47 percent consider an Epic adoption. That said, Epic has seen a downturn in the past year, dropping from 65 percent consideration in 2014 to 47 percent this year. KLAS attributes this drop potentially to the cost of an Epic system.
InterSystems has also seen a considerable spike in the UK since 2012. Three years ago only three percent of healthcare organizations considered the vendor, and now in 2015 41 percent of organizations are considering InterSystems.
In the mainland of Europe and Ireland, KLAS reports a slightly different story, with nearly 73 percent of respondents reporting that they are considering Epic Systems for EHR adoption, while only 55 percent are considering Cerner. ChipSoft is also in the mix.
KLAS explains that Epic’s generally good reputation and track record of high performance contributes to its popularity in Europe.
Larger vendors also maintain their popularity in other parts of the world, most likely due to their accessibility and proven track records for success. Epic and Cerner continue to be the most popular EHR systems in areas like the Middle East and Asia/Oceania, along with other players such as InterSystems, Meditech, and Allscripts.
Brazil is the exception to this rule. KLAS reports that the nation tends to choose local vendors such as Philips and MV Sistemas as opposed to the larger, and often costlier EHR options.
Beyond recording international EHR adoption trends, KLAS looked into image sharing platform preferences across the globe. By analyzing search data on their website, KLAS determined that the most widely considered picture archiving communication systems (PACS) are GE and and Carestream.
KLAS executives explained that they released this study to help those considering adopting a new EHR select the best possible solution. Part of determining that solution is understanding the most popular options in an organization’s region.
“Providers globally are focused on adopting and upgrading EMR solutions at a higher rate than ever before,” KLAS Research Director Jeremy Goff said in a public statement. “Providers who are tasked with making that decision want to know which vendors are being considered most in their region.”
Earlier this year, KLAS released a similar study illustrating the number of organizations using a certain EHR vendor according to country. The results showed that Cerner and InterSystems had high usage, with a dense user population throughout Europe. The two vendors also displayed fairly high user satisfaction.
The study also showed that although Epic is not ubiquitously adopted internationally, it has quite high user satisfaction. KLAS explains this by highlighting the fact that Epic operates almost entirely in the Netherlands.
