What Separates Epic's EHR From the Rest?

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In the 2019 Best in KLAS Software and Services report, Epic was once again named the top overall software suite — for the ninth consecutive year. Epic was also named the top overall physician practice vendor and won best in KLAS awards in nine segments and category leader awards in two. Only two other vendors also received more than one best in KLAS award.

And while the EpicCare Inpatient electronic medical record (EMR) holds more than 200 million patient’s EMRs and received an overall score of 88.2 for its implementation in large hospitals, other systems did not fare as well.

>> READ: Measuring the Promises of Interoperability

Acute Care Systems (Large Hospitals)

The following systems were judged based on culture, loyalty, operations, product, relationship and value.

1. Epic: EpicCare Inpatient EMR (88.2)

Across the board, this system appears to have knocked the others out of the water. This EMR marked the best in all five judgement categories, with an A- in culture and an A in loyalty. Its lowest score, a B for operations, represents the quality of training, implementation and ease of use of the system.

2. Meditech: Enterprise Medical Record 6.x (77.5)

Just under the acute care EMR average of 78.8, the Enterprise Medical Record 6.x had average scores, with a B in loyalty representing the strongest attribute of the system and C’s in operation and product.

3. Cerner: Millennium PowerChart/CommunityWorks Clinicals (76.3)

Like Meditech’s product, Cerner’s EMR was found to be average in a large hospital setting, also showing strength in loyalty, but weaknesses in culture and value — which both reflect if the product works as promised and drives tangible outcomes.

4. Allscripts: Sunrise Clinical Manager (72.5)

The system’s strongest area is relationship — or executive involvement and quality of digital support. And while the system was given C’s for loyalty, operations and product, the Sunrise Clinical Manager had a value of a C-. Its biggest weakness: culture.

While those four systems represent EMR solutions in large hospitals, athenahealth's athernaClinicals for Hospitals and Health Systems was the top system in a community hospital setting.

Most Improved Technology

GE Healthcare’s Universal Viewer saw the largest improvement in overall score in any software product rated — for the second year in a row. Due to improvements in the tech’s development and GE’s response to customer issues, the Universal Viewer was the most improved software product.

Most improved physician practice product was the Greenway Health Intergy electronic health record (EHR). Physicians have become more optimistic about the technology due to improved vendor relationships, better communication, better overall value and an increased focus on providing a product-development road map.

The Best in KLAS results are based on information collected from 2,500 interviews conducted with providers and payers each month. The interviews represent the views of healthcare professionals and clinicians from more than 4,500 hospitals and 2,500 clinics.

While these systems were all rated based on performance and ease of use, there is still a glaring issue that physicians are looking to be fixed: interoperability between the systems. With EHRs unable to communicate well with one another and some only sharing parts of data sets, the technology is not being used to its full potential, and physician workflow is impeded on.

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