ROCKVILLE, Md., May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kalorama Information said the market for electronic medical records was $29.7 billion in 2017, and it is expected to rise to $39.7 billion by 2022. The healthcare market research firm reports on the industry each year, and includes revenues for EMR/EHR systems, CPOE systems, and directly related services such as installation, training, servicing, and consulting which are key profit areas for companies. It does not include PACS or hardware. The firm published its latest report, EMR 2018, this month.
One: Side Dishes Sell the Entree
End-users respond to the additional features that are compiled with an EMR system and view the record management aspect as generic. The benefit of component tools such as CPOE, e-prescribing, image archiving and decision support, have become clear to end-users, and they may prefer to have them as an integrated suite of applications. The availability of all these tools on an integrated platform greatly reduces compatibility issues that end-users face. Nearly 80% of EMR users used CPOE for pharmacy, radiology or lab orders according to HIMSS data.
Two: Digital Patient Engagement is Not Happening
Patient engagement has been traditionally done through face-to-face office visits. Digital patient engagement has been slow to progress with only a small portion of patients actually using the portal. Improving the patient engagement experience will take a combined effort of healthcare organizations employing engagement tools for patients across the care continuum and software providers tooling up the patient portal to meet the needs providing a broader engagement model that focuses on a collaborative patient health record
Three: Trump Wants Transparency, Interoperability
In 2016-2017, the ONC announced that the certified EHR process is getting an overhaul that would allow the agency more input. The ONC will be able to directly review all certified EHR and health IT and call for corrective action when necessary. Additionally, the ONC will be able to create its own certified test laboratories to examine the health technology. Essentially, this new rule will create an authorization and oversight paradigm. The recent statements from the Trump Administration at the HIMSS meeting indicated the adminstration is focused on interoperability, even at the point of fining for non-compliance.
Four: "Install it and Forget It" Vendors Need Not Apply
The industry is seeing a paradigm shift in customer expectations. Previously, customers wanted the basic EMR vendor. Now they want vendors to move from merely developing and deploying software packages and maintaining them to implementing a full range of technology solutions that help to solve real business problems.
