NEW YORK, March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The need to bridge different electronic medical records (EMR) vendor software and provide seamless sharing of patient information between providers dominated the conversation at this year's 2016 Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Las Vegas, NV, last week. Kalorama Information covered the meeting of 42,000 healthcare information technology professionals, and said the conference grows in attendance and importance each year. The healthcare market researcher's EMR analyst Mary Anne Crandall attended the event. Kalorama covers the EMR market every year and plans an update in April.
This year the meeting covered four floors of the Sands Convention Center. Major EMR/EHR players such as Epic, Cerner, McKesson, Philips, GE Healthcare, Allscripts, Dell, Optum and many other companies were present.
"The big trend is connection of care and developing solutions to expand connectivity," Crandall said. "There is an effort to join together via Commonwell and Carequality organizations. This could be the moment for EMR sharing now, the point at which if companies don't join, they won't be serious about participating in the EMR market and providers won't be interested."
Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell spoke at the meeting and unveiled a private sector commitments pledge at HIMSS16. The pledge, supported by the AMA and the significant vendors, seeks to bolster interoperability in healthcare by enabling consumer access to their data, improving transparency and encouraging widespread adoption of national interoperability standards. Health IT developers like Cerner, Epic, and Meditech. Health care systems like HCA, Community Health Systems, and Ascension Health joined in the commitment, according to Burwell's speech. As well as HIMSS itself, and the AMA, other societies like the National Partnership for Women and Families, the American Academy of Family Physicians are supporting the pledge.
"Some of the biggest, most influential names in health care, including health care systems serving patients in 46 states, are standing up to become leaders in this progress," Burwell said in her speech.
The commitment consists of several parts:
Crandall, the author of seven reports on the electronic medical records market, noted that another trend noted was the idea of "full-range solutions." Vendor booths focused this year not only on EMR alone but EMR, along with population health, analytics, cloud service, data repository, predictive analytics, billing and insurance claims and tying to the patient with tablets, smart watches and other components. Information from the meeting and other industry developments will be summarized in Kalorama Information's upcoming EMR 2016, due out in April.
Kalorama Information expects the nearly 25 billion-dollar market for electronic medical records (EMR) to grow well past the period where there are incentives for US healthcare providers, according to a recent report. The healthcare market research publisher said penalties, system upgrades, international sales and continued efficiency improvements will grow the market seven to eight percent each year for the next five years. The market for EMR systems continues to increase as more physicians and hospitals use EMR and acquire EMR systems, and as hospitals and physician groups upgrade existing systems.
Kalorama reports on EMR markets every year. This year's report, EMR 2015: The Market for Electronic Medical Records, can be found at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=87377&productid=8917410.
About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.
We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com.
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