As one of REACH’s Regional Coordinators I sit at a nexus of consultant/client activity. So I hear lots of “chatter” about meaningful use, EHRs, workflows, etc. One of the REACH consultants forwarded me the following (heavily de-identified) email:
We received notice from (our EHR vendor) on 1/31/13 that they are sun setting our product. They will discontinue development on 6/30/13 and they will discontinue support 6/30/14. Needless to say we have to start looking for another EHR/PM. Lucky us, huh? ….. Never a dull moment in healthcare!
The vendor didn’t say so, but it’s reasonable to expect that the requirements for 2014 EHR Certification that have emerged as part of the Stage 2 final rule have caused this vendor to close up shop.
To be a certified EHR in 2014, vendors will need to meet a large number of new requirements including 15 that are completely new (provider notes, family health history, access to images, view, download and transmit information to 3rd parties, safety enhanced design and data portability to name a few) and 23 revised criteria. Given the stringent new requirements, it is not surprising that some vendors would get out of the business.
On the other hand, features of 2014 Certified EHR Technology actually invite innovation and encourage niche vendors to get into the market. Those features are the new modular design of EHR’s the 2014 specification allows and the requirement of data portability. All EHR’s must have base functionality that ensures safety, quality and exchange of data. However, with 2014 rules, an EP does not need to purchase technology that has features the EP doesn’t need in their practice. So, for example, a dentist could purchase an EHR that doesn’t have immunization registry upload. This is good for dentists (they don’t need to buy features that they don’t use) but also good for niche vendors (they don’t need to build or charge for features their customers won’t use). Data portability will make it easier for information to be passed from one EHR to another allowing for this modular construction and lowering the bar for migration from one vendor to another.
Predicting the future is dangerous, but it’s my opinion that the 2014 certification requirements will result in additional choices for specialists, at the same time, we may see fallout among the small soup-to-nuts vendors that appeared in such great numbers at the beginning of the push for MU.
