EMR 2010 (Market Analysis, ARRA Incentives, Key Players, and Important Trends)

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News Since Report Publication

Allscripts-Eclipsys Deal a “Significant Event” In EMR Market - Kalorama

NEW YORK - June 9th - A ‘significant event’ in the EMR market has occurred with the purchase of Atlanta-based Eclipsys by Allscripts, a Chicago-based company, according to healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information. The company has been publishing detailed studies on the 13.8 billion dollar EMR market for the past four years, and sees the purchase as a plausible attempt to unite a market where currently, hospitals and physicians choose from a wide range of vendors..

“We talk in our study about how there was no clear market leader in EMR; and a there was a window for new entrants to enter the market,” said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. “This deal doesn’t close that window, but perhaps the opening just got a little smaller.”

According media reports, the purchase will be conducted in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.3 billion. The combined company would have 5,500 employees. Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman will serve as CEO of the combined company, with Eclipsys President and CEO Phil Pead taking the chairman’s title.

In its existing form, Allscripts was a well-recognized and successful names in the physician EMR market, according to Kalorama’s most recent report on the market, EMR 2010, published earlier this year before the purchase was announced. The company ranked in the top three in name recognition surveys along with Epic and Centricity. The report also indicated that in the category of “physician office and web-based sales” of EMR software (excluding large hospital/health system sales), Allscripts was the number one company in the segment. Allscripts provides electronic health records software primarily to physicians practices and post-acute organizations, and claims 180,000 physician clients. The Eclipsys purchase brings them nearly 1,500 hospital customers, which Kalorama sees as significant.

“It’s logical to match these companies up since Allscripts has physicians and Eclipsys reaches into hospitals and health systems as well,” said Carlson. “Despite Allscript’s name recognition in the physician market, it would have been hard for any company to maintain leadership in EMR without reaching into the hospital space as well. It’s not easy to break into the hospital EMR market, so acquisition was the logical play here.”

The company still faces challenges including the blending of their software offerings and as a combined concern will face competition from McKesson, Cerner, GE Healthcare, as well as Dell Microsystems which recently entered the EMR market. The EMR industry collectively faces the challenge of incorporating “meaningful use” guidelines into vendor offerings in a way that will encourage physicians to use EMR at greater rates than currently seen.

Kalorama Information’s report, EMR 2010, written before the Allscripts-Eclipsys contains more information on the EMR Market including market forecasts, market segments, pricing information, profiles of the top vendors in the market and more information.