No Clear Leader in Physician EMR Market

Despite the presence of several major corporations, no single company dominates the market for electronic medical records (EMR). These are the latest findings of Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA), an independent market research firm.

According to the report, at least 70% of the EMR market represents sales to hospitals and health systems. Due to the scale of operation, capital outlay, and the support infrastructure needed to service hospitals, large information technology (IT) companies such as McKesson (San Francisco, CA, USA), Cerner, Eclypsis and MediTech--who were all doing business with these customers prior to the EMR incentives--have a fairly strong hold on that segment. The remainder of the market, consisting of sales to physician practices and web sales, is a smaller target, but one with more opportunity.

As a result, companies such as Allscripts (Chicago, IL, USA), Epic, eClinicalworks, athenahealth (Watertown, MA, USA), and NextGen are among the leaders in sales to physicians, but no one company has even 20% of the physician EMR market. This is due to a variety of reasons: the trending towards acquiring EMR is recent; software programs are often offered in conjunction with products offered by billing software vendors; and the physician market represents a multitude of customers in various regional markets, which makes for a slower sales process. The Kalorama Information report also indicates that brand recognition among physicians is also low; when doctors are surveyed no particular brand sticks out in any kind of numbers, and ratings of brands tend towards the middle range. Both market share and brand awareness could rapidly change, however, as some of the large companies that entered the market in 2009, such as IBM, 3M, Dell, and Wal-Mart, show results with their marketing efforts.

"No one has closed the deal yet for physician mindshare, at least not yet,” said Bruce Carlson, the publisher of Kalorama Information. "And that is good news for companies that are considering entering the system with a product that has enhanced functionality.”

According to Kalorama Information, the EMR market was estimated at US$13.8 billion in 2009, but the market is expected to grow ever since the announcement by the U.S. government of major healthcare incentives for physicians who implement and use EMR in their practices, presenting a market that is wide open for more competition and new entrants.

Related Links:
Kalorama Information
McKesson
Allscripts
athenahealth