Allscripts-Eclipsys Deal a "Significant Event" in EMR Market - June 10, 2010
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. Kalorama has been publishing detailed studies on the $13.8 billion EMR market for the past four years, and sees this 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 that 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 to media reports, the purchase will be conducted in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.3 billion. The combined company will 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.
Prior to the purchase, Allscripts was one of the better-recognized names in the physician EMR market, according to Kalorama's most recent report on the market, "EMR 2010 (Market Analysis, ARRA Incentives, Key Players, and Important Trends)," 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 market," 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 an acquisition was the logical play here."
The company still faces challenges including the blending of their software offerings and competition from McKesson, Cerner, and 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 what we currently see.
Kalorama Information's report, "EMR 2010 (Market Analysis, ARRA Incentives, Key Players, and Important Trends)," written before the Allscripts-Eclipsys deal, contains more information on the EMR market including market forecasts, market segments, pricing information, profiles of the top vendors in the market and more. The report can be found at:
http://www.sencilo.com/buynow.php
