EHR Survey: U.S. Market Saturation Means International Push

The American market for electronic health records (EHRs) has been saturated to the point that the largest vendors are seeking out untapped and emerging international buyers, according to a new survey.

The biggest vendors, such as Allscripts and Epic Systems, are seeking out places such as Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Asia, according to Black Book Research’s Annual State of Global EHR Research.

“Because the U.S. is forecast to be one of the slowest-growing EHR markets over the next five years as it approaches saturation in the acute market, the largest system vendors are shifting their efforts to international expansion,” said Doug Brown, the president of Black Book. “Therefore, vendors such as Meditech, Epic Systems, Cerner and Allscripts are heating up into highly competitive international emerging markets.”

The biggest pushes: Allscripts into the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand; and Epic Systems’ increased shares in Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to the report.

The look included 68 EHR vendors, evaluating their reach in 12 regions across the globe, which included exaptation evaluations, forecast budget costs, and time and resource allocation goals.

Without uniformity in the IT systems in many of the countries, the market possibilities are broadened for the major EHR companies, according to the report.

“One exception being Germany that implemented, in 2018, a nationwide network that enables the secure data transmission among healthcare providers, connecting over 2.5 million healthcare professionals to 80 million citizens,” said Brown.

Another case study within the report: the IC Card of Taiwan. The “Integrated Circuit” card holds the medical data of some 99% of the nation’s 23 million citizens since its inception in 2005. But there is a catch, said Brown.

“Although simple and groundbreaking, the problem with the IC Card is that the information it holds is limited to the last six medical visits, prescriptions, allergies, organ donation willingness, and vaccinations,” he said.

The 10,000 participants in the survey included over 4,000 actual users of the EHRs, and also more than 6,800 individuals involved int e vendor selection process.

The survey time period extended over the first three quarters of 2019.

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