EMR Trends

Summary

Traditionally, larger EMR vendors were thought to have advantages over smaller providers
For smaller practices, a smaller EMR vendor may be more attractive because of price and infrastructure
There should be a large push in 2010 for small practices to adopt EMR's because of the government incentives available in 2011

Analysis
The conventional belief in electronic medical records (EMR) has always been that the bigger the better. The idea was that larger providers of EMR's, such as GE Healthcare or Allscripts, offered stability to reassure physicians that their EMR service was going to being secure for many years. In addition, by choosing a larger provider, physicians may reap the benefits of being part of a larger market share where compatibility with other providers may be made easier.

However, for several reasons, the marketplace has begun to shift its attention towards smaller EMR providers. The larger vendors had initially targeted large institutions such as hospital networks. As a result, their infrastructure and pricing tends to neglect the small practice, which has been the slowest adopter of EMR's.

In 2011, government incentives will begin for practices who are using EMR's. Therefore, look for 2010 to be a buyer's market as practices begin to adopt EMR's, and in all likelihood, this will be a boon for smaller EMR vendors.

GLG Healthcare Council
Money.CNN.Com March 2010