- Eleanor Kennedy
- Staff Reporter- Nashville Business Journal
A new study shows 74 percent of Nashville’s health care practices have adopted electronic health records. But while that figure is about on par with the national average of 78 percent, the results show Nashville health care providers are taking an unusual tack when it comes to adoption, not implementing the market leader, Wisconsin-based Epic Systems Corp.
Epic, which boasts 10.8 percent market share among U.S. physician practices, does not fall into the top five vendors for electronic medical records, according to a study conducted by Brentwood-based TechnologyAdvice.
Beside the absence of Epic, though, Nashville’s systems of choice largely mirror national ones. eClinical works, the second-most dominant platform nationally, leads the way in Nashville with 14.6 percent of market share, followed by Practice Fusion, NextGen and AllScripts, all of which fall in the top five vendors nationally.
The study suggests Epic’s lack of local adoption likely stems from, among a variety of factors, its “reputation for high costs.”
“The position of eClinical Works, a solution known to offer attractive pricing, further highlights the importance of cost in this market,” the study says, and later continues, “The large market share of the free EHR Practice Fusion may cement the hypothesis that price is the number one concern among Nashville providers when selecting an EHR.”
Practice Fusion is the second most popular vendor in Nashville, with 5.7 percent of the market, but is fourth on the national list.
The study was compiled using phone and email interviews with more than 250 Nashville practices.
Eleanor Kennedy covers Nashville’s health care and technology industries.
