As of 2017, 96 percent of hospitals had inpatient EHR systems. These systems help hospitals provide and bill for care. They also help hospitals share data with ambulatory practices like yours. Using CommonWell and Carequality to perform Health Data Exchange with hospitals and practices can help improve patient care and reduce costs.
But hospitals and ambulatory care practices often have different EHR systems and vendors. For example, the NextGen EHR and EPM system are only available for ambulatory care. To coordinate care for your patients, your practice’s EHR must be able to exchange data with local hospitals and health systems.
Interoperability rules help promote data sharing across EHR platforms. To get the most out of interoperability and Health Information Exchange, you need to know which EHR systems your practice will share data with. There are several common inpatient EHR vendors that hospitals in your area may use.
Here are the most common inpatient EHR systems that you will want to integrate with.
The Top Two Inpatient EHR Systems—Epic and Cerner
According to the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), Epic Systems Corporation and Cerner Corporation are the two most popular inpatient EHR systems. In 2019, these two vendors together accounted for over 50 percent of the hospital EHR market. Similarly, a 2020 market share report found Epic systems held 31 percent of the hospital EHR market. Cerner had the second-highest market share in 2020 at 25 percent.
If your practice coordinates care or shares data with hospitals, chances are your NextGen EHR will need to send data to or receive data from an Epic or Cerner EHR system. Your NextGen EHR has built-in Health Information Exchange tools to help you easily send and receive data and record it in your patients’ charts. By connecting NextGen to Carequality you will be able to seamlessly exchange data will all Cerner (CommonWell) and Epic (Carequality) hospitals and physician groups.
Other Major Players in Inpatient EHRs—MEDITECH, AllScripts, CPSI, and MedHost
After Epic and Cerner, several other inpatient EHR systems stand out as common choices for hospitals. These include Medical Information Technology, Inc (MEDITECH), CPSI, AllScripts, and MedHost. Together, these four companies accounted for 33 percent of the hospital EHR market in 2020. MEDITECH is the most commonly-selected inpatient EHR among this group, with a 2020 market share of 16 percent. While these four inpatient EHR systems are not as common as Epic and Center systems, your practice may still encounter them frequently. Hospitals or health systems in your area may implement or switch to one of these EHR vendors.
Your NextGen EHR’s interoperability functions will allow you to share data with these hospital systems easily. Through Health Information Exchange and Health Data Exchange, your practice can work together with local hospitals to improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.
Smaller Inpatient EHR Systems
Many other EHR vendors have small pieces of the inpatient hospital market. Estimates vary on the market share for these smaller vendors. Some smaller companies you may encounter when coordinating care with hospitals and health systems include:
Your practice will only need to share data with these systems if a hospital in your local area has implemented them. While most EHR systems can meet ONC's interoperability requirements, your practice may struggle to share data with some smaller systems. Check with your hospital and health system partners to ensure smooth data sharing processes.
How Inpatient EHR Systems Affect Your Practice
Inpatient and ambulatory EHR systems differ. As an ambulatory care practice, you should select the EHR system that best suits your needs. But your practice should also be aware of the inpatient EHR systems used by the hospitals and health systems in your area. Sharing data helps you to coordinate care, reduce waste, and ensure prompt referrals. To get the most benefits from data sharing, however, it needs to be seamless and simple. This means EHR systems must have an optimized user experience for interoperability.
Timely data sharing through Health Information Exchange improve your patients’ health outcomes. Sharing data with hospitals can reduce readmissions, speed up diagnosis, and lower the risk of costly errors or duplicate testing. Recent interoperability requirements, like the Information Blocking Rule, help support data sharing between hospitals and practices, even when they use different EHR systems.
If your practice is struggling to share data with local hospitals, EHR differences may be the culprit. NextGen consultants like TempDev can help you improve your data sharing practices so you can provide better care in less time.
How TempDev Can Help You Share Data with Inpatient EHR Systems
TempDev’s developers can help your practice with interoperability challenges. If you are struggling to send or receive data in your NextGen EHR, TempDev’s experts are here to help. Our consultants can also help you optimize data sharing workflows and comply with new interoperability requirements like the Information Blocking Rule.
Call us at 888.TEMP.DEV or contact us here to get started sharing data with inpatient EHR systems.
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