Booming demand and expanding profitability has caused the industry to experience a growth spurt in revenue, enterprises and wages. For this reasons, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Electronic Medical Records Systems industry to its growing industry report collection.
The Electronic Medical Records Systems industry, which designs, develops, implements and supports electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR) systems, has significantly benefited from federal healthcare legislation during the past five years and is expected to continue to do so during the five years to 2019. The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act established Medicare and Medicaid incentives to encourage the widespread adoption of EHR systems among ambulatory and inpatient healthcare providers. In 2015, the act will begin to penalize Medicare reimbursement recipients who have yet to adopt EHR according to Meaningful Use Guidelines established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. These incentives and looming penalties have spurred healthcare providers across the country to adopt EHR systems in recent years, and industry revenue has grown, accordingly.
According to IBISWorld Industry Analyst Jocelyn Phillips, “Industry revenue grew substantially in 2013 and is expected to grow further in 2014, as providers have scrambled to avoid the Medicare penalties coming in 2015.” At the same time, the average industry profit margin is estimated to grow markedly from 2009 to 2014. Booming demand and expanding profitability has caused the industry to experience a growth spurt, and the total number of industry enterprises is expected to noticeably grow during the five years to 2014 as companies scramble to claim a share of the rapidly expanding market. Industry spending on wages is similarly expected to increase substantially during the past five years, as companies have hired and retained highly trained, highly paid technicians, developers and programmers with specialized medical and technical skills.
The Electronic Medical Records Systems industry is characterized by a low level of market share concentration. While many industry operators control a large share of either the ambulatory or inpatient software market, few companies command a large share of the electronic health record (EHR) software market across all healthcare providers, overall. As a result, the industry still exhibits a high level of fragmentation, composed of many industry operators that focus on a particular market niche, such as small, specialized physician practices that require customizable EHR software. Currently, many healthcare providers do not have fully integrated EHR systems, meaning that a healthcare provider’s and pharmacy chain’s EHR vendor may vary.
As many patients have looked toward alternative healthcare channels, such as walk-in clinics, this trend has resulted in many retail healthcare visits going unreported to primary care doctors. “As many healthcare providers address potential gaps in patients’ medical histories over the next five years, more healthcare providers will use streamlined EHR systems, thereby providing patient data to both physicians, ambulatory services, pharmacies and diagnostic laboratories, among other care providers,” says Phillips. Due to this trend, market share is expected to become more concentrated over the next five years.
Demand and growth will likely remain high during the next five years, as late adopters hurry to avoid increasingly significant Medicare penalties, which are set to grow marginally by 2017. However, industry revenue growth is expected to slow to 6.0% per year on average as the market becomes largely satisfied and saturated. Industry operators will likely turn to upgrades, support, maintenance and integration of existing systems to maintain growth and profitability. Combined with new sales of specialized EHR technology to late adopters, these operations are expected boost revenue.
For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Electronic Medical Records Systems in the US industry report page.
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IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics
This industry provides electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR) services. EMR and EHR systems are digital replacements for traditional paper and file medical records systems used by hospitals, physician practices, urgent care centers and ambulance services. This industry does not include the provision of medical care.
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