Dive Brief:
- Epic was the only electronic health record vendor to see a net increase in acute care market share in 2023, as the company continues to pull ahead of competing technology providers, according to a recent Klas Research report.
- The vendor covered more than half of all acute care multispecialty beds and 39% of hospitals in the U.S.
- In contrast, Oracle Health saw its largest net hospital loss on record. Several large multispecialty systems switched vendors, and growth among small standalone hospitals stagnated.
Dive Insight:
Acute care EHR purchasing was high last year, driven by large healthcare organizations that made the bulk of purchasing decisions, according to the Klas report.
Nearly 80% of hospitals that were affected by an EHR purchase decision last year were part of a health system, and more than half were part of large health systems.
Large organizations are interested in partnering with Epic because they see the vendor as a consistently high performer, according to the report. They also chose Epic to consolidate their IT systems — a key priority for many providers looking to cut down on the number of vendors they manage.
Meanwhile, Oracle faced challenges as growth among small hospitals with 200 beds or less stalled — previously an area where the vendor had notched market share successes, according to Klas. In 2023, Oracle covered nearly 24% of acute care beds and about 23% of hospitals.
Facing financial pressure, small standalone hospitals focused on improving existing technology last year, and made just 41 purchasing decisions compared to 73 in 2022.
Oracle’s Millennium EHR platform also received a low customer experience grade, according to Klas.
“Further, Oracle Health’s decline in performance and persistent revenue cycle challenges have resulted in some customers leaving Millennium and prospective small standalone hospitals being deterred from choosing Oracle Health,” the report’s authors wrote.
The technology giant, which acquired EHR vendor Cerner for more than $28 billion nearly two years ago, has faced headwinds. Oracle is shifting customers to the cloud from licensed purchases, which means less revenue upfront and more cash rolling in over time. Leaders have said the segment will return to growth next year.
Another major EHR competitor, Meditech, also lost market share last year. The vendor covered 16% of U.S. acute care hospitals and 13% of beds in 2023.
Meditech also saw its retention rate dip to its lowest on record last year, with about a quarter of its legacy losses linked to mergers and acquisitions. Several customers moved to Epic to consolidate systems and improve data exchange with other Epic users, according to Klas.
