Can EHRs Increase to Develop into Well being Programs’ “Platform of Platforms” (UDHPs)? – The Well being Care Weblog

by Vince Kuraitis and Neil P. Jennings of Untangle Health

Right here’s an overview of right this moment’s weblog publish:

• A Transient Recap: What are UDHPs?
• Thesis: EHRs Can Increase to Develop into UDHPs
  1. EHRs At present Personal the Buyer Relationship
  2. Many Prospects Have an “EHR-First” Desire for New Purposes
  3. Epic and Oracle Health are Making Robust Actions Towards Changing into UDHPs
• Antithesis: EHRs Can NOT Develop into Efficient EHRs
  1. EHRs Carry a Lot of Baggage
  2. Prospects are Skeptical
  3. EHR Analytics Are NOT Optimized To Obtain Crucial Health System Targets
  4. EHR Switching Prices are Diminishing
  5. Cloud Native Platforms Speed up Innovation and Efficiency
  6. IT’s Not in EHR DNA to Develop into A Broad-Based mostly Platform
• Synthesis and Conclusion

It is a lengthy publish…over 4,000 phrases…so we’ve clearly obtained so much to say on the matter. Hope you introduced snacks!

A Transient Recap: What are UDHPs? (Unified Digital Health Platforms)

In our Health-platforms/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>earlier intensive publish on UDHPs, we described them as a brand new class of enterprise software program. A December 2022 Gartner Market Information report characterised the long-term potential:

The [U]DHP shift will emerge as probably the most cost-effective and technically environment friendly strategy to scale new digital capabilities inside and throughout Health ecosystems and can, over time, substitute the dominant period of the monolithic digital Health document (EHR).

The DHP Reference Structure is illustrated in a Health-platforms-96fd51602e0e” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>weblog publish by Higher. Be aware that UDHPs are visually depicted as “sitting on high” of EHRs and different siloed sources of Health information:

We famous that nearly any kind of enormous healthcare group — Health techniques, Health plans, pharma corporations, medical gadget corporations, and so forth. — had a necessity for UDHPs. Nevertheless, right this moment’s focus is extra slim — we restrict the dialogue to UDHPs in hospitals and Health techniques, primarily within the U.S. We use the time period “Health system” to embody hospitals and regional Health supply techniques.

On this publish, we deal with the 2 largest EHR distributors within the U.S. — Epic and Oracle Health; they’ve a Information–Technology/ehrs/epic-sees-biggest-year-for-hospital-ehr-growth-klas/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>mixed market share of 65% of hospitals and 77% of hospital beds.

Within the remaining sections, we’ll lay out arguments on each side of the difficulty of whether or not EHRs can (or can not) increase to develop into UDHPs. The graphic under is our crack at a visible abstract. The balloons characterize the thesis – that EHRs can increase to develop into UDHPs; the anchors characterize the antithesis – that EHRs can’t increase to develop into UDHPs.

Thesis: EHRs Can Increase To Changing into UDHPs

Let’s take a look at the case for EHRs increasing to develop into efficient UDHPs.

1) EHRs At present Personal the Buyer Relationship

Fueled by federal HITECH incentives and mandates, Health techniques have made vital investments of their current EHRs:

• As of 2021, 96% of non-federal acute care hospitals within the U.S. Health-records” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>had adopted an authorized EHR.
• They made large capital commitments to buy and set up their EHR, usually lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
• Many current scientific workflows are constructed on EHRs.
• A majority of a affected person’s scientific information in a Health system resides inside their EHR.

Based on SoftwareReviews, Epic and (Oracle) Cerner Millennium EHRs obtain good to excessive rankings from Health system prospects.

Thus, any new vendor making an attempt to promote new healthcare enterprise software program (i.e., a UDHP) will face a excessive hurdle: “We have already got an EHR…why ought to we take into account you?”

2) Many Prospects Have an “EHR-First” Desire for New Purposes

Health techniques have been making an attempt to remain afloat in a veritable tsunami of point solutions. This creates a variety of challenges, together with:

• Complexity and integration challenges
• Regulatory and compliance dangers
• Fragmentation of care
• Person adoption and coaching
• Value and ROI issues

As proven within the graphic under, a 2024 Bain & Company/KLAS survey of Health techniques discovered that 81% more and more plan to look to current distributors earlier than contemplating choices from new distributors.

Extra particularly, the survey discovered that 79% plan to look to their EHR vendor first for brand new options earlier than seeking to others.

Information–Technology/ehrs/university-hospitals-epic-first-strategy/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>College Hospitals is an instance of a Health system with an EHR-First technique. Based on Robert Eardley, CIO, this tenet ensures the Health system prioritizes instruments and improvements obtainable inside its Epic digital Health document platform each time possible.

3) Epic and Oracle Are Making Robust Actions Towards Changing into UDHPs

Maybe one of the best argument that EHRs are able to changing into Unified Digital Health Platforms is that Epic and Oracle Health are already making daring strikes. Let’s check out them individually.

Epic’s EHR Growth Plans

Epic is greater than a fundamental EHR — IT gives current prospects a broad base of capabilities. Interop guru Brendan Keeler has written extensively about Epic. In his article “An Epic Saga: The Origin Story” he describes how Epic grew to its present measurement. The Appendix supplies an intensive listing of “Epic Modules.”

In an insightful 2024 analysis of Epic’s dominant market position, Seth Joseph included an inventory of Products You Can Replace with Epic. The listing included over 150 capabilities “that can assist you establish areas the place you may use your Epic software program to both substitute or keep away from buying area of interest purposes…”

Epic is also increasing new choices to new buyer classes. Within the article “Epic Beyond the Provider Empire“, Brendan Keeler supplies an in depth listing:

Health Grid — software program bought to

• Labs
• Medical gadget corporations
• Payers
• Telehealth corporations
• Scientific trials

Health Grid Adjoining choices

• Cosmos — “an enormous scientific dataset created by pooling Information from Epic Health techniques”
• Payer Gateway — a “lighter-weight service for payers that permits them to obtain scientific information from Epic healthcare organizations”
• Chart Gateway — “Epic’s service that streamlines how life insurance coverage corporations get medical information from Epic healthcare organizations”
• EpicCare Hyperlink — “a web-based portal product that lets Epic healthcare organizations provide non-Epic suppliers a strategy to work together with them.”

Different stuff

• Provide Store — providers choices
• Revcyclers — “Third events working with Epic and supply billing providers to assist enhance income cycle outcomes”
• Cornerstone Companions — deep relationships with Microsoft and InterSystems

However wait…there’s extra. At HIMSS 2025, Epic announced further AI capabilities within the works and that IT is growing a healthcare-specific enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) system. Whereas we view an ERP as an enormous stretch, IT’s additionally a possible game-changer for Epic.

Utilizing a framework created by David Yuan of Tidemark, Brendan Keeler capsulized Epic’s broader platform technique:

With additions just like the ERP, Epic is clearly evolving past a standard EHR system, however is IT sufficient to satisfy the UDHP wants of contemporary Health techniques?

Oracle Health Goes Past Being a Conventional EHR

In October 2024, Oracle announced a brand new EHR. As described by the corporate, Health/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Oracle Health has many traits that make IT look extra like a UDHP than a standard EHR. IT goals to go considerably past the capabilities of a standard EHR:

1. Embedded Synthetic Intelligence (AI): In contrast to EHRs the place AI is commonly a bolt-on, Oracle’s new system is designed with AI as a core part, built-in throughout all the scientific workflow. This features a Scientific AI Agent, AI-driven insights on the level of care, AI-powered summaries, and customized care plans.
2. Enhanced Person Expertise: Recognizing the clinician burden related to conventional EHRs, the brand new system emphasizes an intuitive and user-friendly design with options like voice-driven navigation and search, multimodal search, and a customizable interface.
3. Oracle Health Knowledge Intelligence is an AI and analytics resolution embedded throughout the EHR, enabling integration of disparate information sources, real-time insights, and inhabitants Health administration instruments.
4. Subsequent-Technology Oracle Cloud Infrastructure gives benefits of enhanced safety, scalability, and efficiency, and higher information trade.
5. Affected person Engagement Instruments: The brand new EHR features a reimagined affected person portal targeted on empowering sufferers to entry and management their medical historical past, facilitating communication with suppliers, and enabling self-service capabilities for sufferers to handle appointments, pay payments, and entry Health Information.
6. Deal with Worth-Based mostly Care: The system is designed to assist value-based care fashions by streamlining Information trade between payers and suppliers, enhancing care coordination, and offering insights into value and useful resource allocation.

Oracle Health goals to maneuver past being a system of document to changing into a system of motion — an clever, built-in platform that actively assists clinicians, engages sufferers, and drives higher outcomes in a extra environment friendly and safe method. Oracle’s most recent announcement of a platform partnership with Cleveland Clinic and G42 is per the migration towards changing into a UDHP.

Oracle Health remains to be in its early levels of a roll-out, with an early adopter program launched in 2025. Subsequently, intensive, extensively revealed surveys and large-scale buyer suggestions about this new platform aren’t but obtainable.

Antithesis: EHRs Can NOT Develop into Efficient UDHPs

Now let’s look at arguments suggesting that EHRs aren’t able to changing into Health techniques’ “platform of platforms” — a UDHP.

1) EHRs Carry a Lot of Baggage

Right this moment’s EHRs are criticized on plenty of fronts: errors and safety issues, cost, Information–Technology/ehrs/will-the-ehr-market-remain-competitive-into-2024/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>lack of competitors, lack of interoperability, and lack of usability for clinicians.  COVID-19 highlighted lots of the weaknesses in EHRs as being “massive, gradual monoliths that don’t shortly adapt to new, emergent calls for on their design and workflow.”

However what concerning the excessive satisfaction scores beforehand cited? EHRs usually tend to take into account Health system directors as their “prospects.” As famous above, clinician “consumer” satisfaction is mostly low.

Distributors even have allowed prospects to customise EHR implementations. Native customization results in substantial variations in how the system operates from one website to a different. The usually-used colloquial phrase is that there are “50 dialects of Epic.” Whereas a point of EHR customization is critical and may improve clinician buy-in, over-customization can lead to problem interoperating, as information definitions and workflows can differ enormously. With every EHR occasion doubtlessly distinctive, extending EHRs to develop into UDHPs carries ahead organization-specific configurations which can end in substantial longitudinal upkeep (for both the Health system or the companions linked to the EHR).

Lastly, Epic’s distinctive measurement and dominant market place might appeal to antitrust challenges from authorities regulators. Even right this moment, as IT-grows/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Seth Joseph paperwork, Epic is already attracting lawsuits from a number of “smaller, adjoining distributors.” As Epic provides ERP and Cerner and Epic proceed including adjoining options and capabilities, they’re increasing their positions, doubtlessly garnering further regulatory oversight.

2) Prospects are Skeptical

Even whereas many Health techniques may need an “EHR-First” integration desire, many are additionally skeptical of their EHR vendor’s guarantees and their means to combine new apps. Sage Development Companions report entitled Health/content material/information/2024/01/Sage_MR_Final_01.17.24.pdf” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>The New Healthcare C-Suite Agenda: 2024-25 addressed the difficulty:

C-Suites are at a Technology crossroads: Only a few are glad with their EMR vendor, the market is flooded with level options however integrations are irritating staff extra, and regardless of the coverage relaxations round telehealth over the past three years, telehealth and in-home hospital instruments will not be effectively built-in with EMRs.

When requested “How effectively does your present vendor stay as much as the guarantees IT makes concerning the EMR, solely 26% responded “extraordinarily effectively” or “very effectively.”

Maybe most significantly, “𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟕% 𝐨𝐟 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 “𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞” 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐌𝐑 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, down from 25% in 2022.”

3) EHR Analytics Are NOT Optimized To Obtain Crucial Health System Targets

Any particular person EHR can NOT be seen because the “supply of reality” for a affected person’s scientific historical past:

A number of EHR Distributors. Each within the U.S. and overseas, bigger Health techniques usually are Frankenstein’s monsters stitched collectively from numerous acquisitions. Thus, they ceaselessly sport a patchwork of competing EHRs. A HIMSS Analytics study discovered that the common Health system has 18 completely different EHR distributors throughout inpatient and outpatient settings.

A number of Level Options and Sources of Knowledge. Affected person information in Health techniques is unfold throughout a number of techniques, not simply EHRs.

Affected person and Knowledge “Leakage.” Right this moment’s sufferers are extra motivated by comfort than loyalty to at least one Health system; affected person leakage throughout care suppliers is important. A research in International Journal of Medical Informatics discovered that “solely 4.5 % of expenditure-weighted particular person Medicare beneficiaries had their MU medical information related to a single vendor, whereas 19.8 % of expenditure-weighted beneficiaries had their MU medical information saved in 8 or extra distributors.”

Affected person Health and Care Knowledge is More and more Outdoors of EHRs. A McKinsey study examined how a lifetime of affected person Health and care information is more likely to be created (see the graphic under).

By including the numbers in the suitable column, you’ll see that an individual generates an estimated complete of 1,106.4 terabytes of Health information over the course of a lifetime. Nevertheless, solely 0.4 terabytes — or 0.04% — is scientific information, i.e., more likely to reside in right this moment’s EHRs.

The implication: EHRs are more likely to comprise solely a fraction of a affected person’s Health and care information. Optimum end-to-end analytical techniques for affected person information — ones designed for each prevention and care – might want to pull information from throughout a various vary of sources. These capabilities don’t exist in right this moment’s EHRs.

We’ve famous that the roots of EHRs are as techniques of document to doc processes for fee-for-service billing, however IT goes deeper than that.

Pushed by early incentives like Significant Use, EHR design closely prioritized billing for particular person providers and administrative duties. Consequently, their structure emphasised documenting the quantity of care delivered for reimbursement, slightly than the worth of affected person outcomes and effectivity.

The restricted interoperability inherent in lots of early EHR techniques fostered information silos. This fragmentation made IT troublesome to realize the excellent, holistic affected person view important for efficient value-based care (VBC) and value-based funds (VBP), care coordination, inhabitants Health administration, complete value of care measurement and administration, and different capabilities wanted for cutting-edge Health techniques.

In flip, conventional EHRs usually lacked entry to longitudinal claims information and the delicate analytics essential to robustly measure prices and affected person outcomes. In addition they ceaselessly lacked standardized mechanisms for capturing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and didn’t streamline scientific workflows to particularly assist value-focused care supply. Because of this, these techniques weren’t inherently designed to optimize for the rules and numerous cost fashions of VBC.

Whereas EHR Technology has superior, these foundational limitations proceed to current vital hurdles for Health techniques navigating the advanced transition in direction of VBC and inhabitants Health. Addressing these inherent design constraints is essential for realizing the complete potential of digital Health in a future-proofed, value-driven healthcare panorama.

4) EHR Switching Prices are Diminishing

Previously, switching EHRs was akin to transferring homes throughout a blizzard…with three toddlers and a herd of goats. Excessive switching prices created a defensive moat to guard EHRs from rivals, both different EHRs or a brand new class of UDHPs.

Nevertheless, authorities coverage, laws, and regulation over the previous twenty years have promoted interoperability and applicable trade of affected person information. The HITECH Act, the twenty first Century Cures Act, the promotion of HL7 FHIR APIs, and the creation of TEFCA exemplify this development.

As affected person information turns into extra fluid and readily shareable throughout completely different techniques, switching prices are diminished. That is much more pronounced outdoors the U.S., the place requirements like openEHR – a standardized scientific information mannequin which separates information from purposes – are gaining traction, demonstrating the potential of information standardization to ease system transitions. The EU Data Act mandates the flexibility to change information suppliers seamlessly.

Moreover, the evolution in direction of a UDHP doesn’t essentially require a whole and rapid EHR substitute. As we mentioned in a Health-platforms/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>earlier weblog publish, UDHPs may be architected to combine with and leverage current information repositories, together with EHRs. This incremental method to UDHP adoption can considerably scale back the perceived and precise prices of transitioning to a extra unified digital Health ecosystem.

5) Cloud Native Platforms Speed up Innovation and Efficiency

The roots of EHRs are as techniques of document to doc fee-for-service billing processes, changing on-site processes with (usually) on-prem software program. UDHPs, alternatively, are usually cloud native software program, permitting broad scalability, availability, and appearing as hubs for innovation. With CHIME’s 2024 survey suggesting “24% of CIOs highlighted applicational rationalization and optimization a high precedence,” this begs the query: the place ought to this utility rationalization and optimization happen?

Cloud native software program is a robust contender, providing lots of the CIO-sought advantages and the flexibility to scale in a cost-transparent method. Neil’s latest piece “Health-tech-executive/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Head within the Cloud: Right this moment’s Healthcare Government” covers the shift to cloud-first infrastructure on account of extra than simply market wants, but additionally a change in management. Because the Epic-selecting CIOs of the 2010s are retiring, a brand new technologist profile is rising and leaning cloud-first.

To be clear, we’re not referring to easily lifting-and-shifting an EHR from on-prem to the cloud. Whereas altering internet hosting suppliers and places can add incremental advantages to efficiency, value of possession, and scalability, the complete advantages of cloud-first platforms will not be achieved by migrating legacy software program.

To get the complete advantages of a cloud-first method, there’ll should be a re-architecture of techniques. It is a massive job, however we now have lots of the items right this moment, with scalable databases, Grasp-Knowledge-Administration merchandise, EMPI merchandise, and headless EHRs (ONC Licensed EHRs of document that let prospects to reskin the affected person and provider-facing experiences). Some main organizations are already creating cloud-hosted centralized information platforms that create a single supply of reality, brokering information throughout their technical ecosystem. Under, we’ll cowl some main advantages of this extra encompassing cloud-first method.

 

The place EHR distributors have traditionally moved slowly, cloud service suppliers are quickly including shared providers and tooling. With their consumption-based pricing fashions, they’re immediately incentivized to allow and encourage onboarding new customers, use circumstances, purposes, and databases. Not everybody will want or need to construct from scratch within the cloud, and as highlighted within the earlier publish, cloud-hosted ERP platforms are additionally rising to the event to satisfy UDHP wants.

Past the listing of advantages above, IT is the method of those new service suppliers that encourages us to query whether or not EHRs can stay UDHPs in the long run. The cloud service suppliers (or hyperscalers) and ERPs are keen to combine with anybody, host and provision something anyplace, and supply centralized, distributed accessible, – and likewise open – techniques. AWS and Azure, for instance, would fortunately host your Epic occasion, connect with your athenaHealth tablespace, and your level options. Please, proceed including extra!

And, they’ve probably the most superior, scalable databases and information platforms to accommodate that information. This makes the subsequent technology of level options, CDS options, or AI-derived brokers even simpler to create as cloud-first, as the info are already there, centralized, and accessible.

EHR prospects are additionally flocking to cloud distributors already, seeing advantages in internet hosting prices, scalability, testing, and different areas. From KLAS’ Epic within the Public Cloud 2024 report: “The bulk [of survey respondents] make the most of a cloud supplier for Epic catastrophe restoration, and this usually serves because the preliminary step within the Epic cloud migration journey.” IDC takes IT a step additional of their 2024-2025 Health Knowledge Platforms for Suppliers Vendor Evaluation, introducing multi-cloud implementations as a doable route, stating that “Practically half (49.2%) of U.S. healthcare suppliers will prioritize IT modernization initiatives extending into 2025. This emphasizes the necessity for platforms that scale successfully and combine seamlessly with current and rising techniques within the healthcare ecosystem. Multicloud adaptability can be important to reaching this.“

This implies one reply to the query of the place utility rationalization and optimization ought to happen: within the cloud. The cloud distributors are keen and capable of accommodate any EHR and are aligning incentives to speed up cloud adoption. If these cloud platforms can handle healthcare’s information complexity, what’s stopping them from being the UDHPs accelerating innovation in healthcare?

6) IT’s Not in EHR DNA to Develop into a Broad-Based mostly Platform

EHRs are set of their methods – kinda like your uncle who nonetheless makes use of a flip telephone. In contrast to lots of right this moment’s most profitable tech corporations, EHRs will not be “platform native.” We listing some potential methods this might inhibit an EHR’s enlargement towards changing into a UDHP:

“Software program Pondering” vs. “Platform Pondering.” To really perceive the transformative potential of Unified Digital Health Platforms, IT’s essential to tell apart between conventional “software program pondering” and extra expansive “platform pondering.” By their very definition, UDHPs aren’t merely new software program; they characterize a basic shift in direction of a platform enterprise mannequin, full with a new set of rules requiring a special mindset for fulfillment.

Seth Joseph astutely noticed that EHRs nonetheless consider themselves as software program corporations, whereas the larger alternative is emigrate from being “a software program vendor within the market to {the marketplace} itself.” This transition necessitates a basic change in how these techniques are conceived, constructed, and operated.

Growth By way of In-Home Improvement vs. Growth By way of M&A. Traditionally, Epic has largely favored enlargement by in-house improvement slightly than embracing the platform technique of development by acquisitions and fostering an exterior ecosystem. Judy Faulkner, the influential founding father of Epic, has famously said Epic won’t ever be bought and has additionally traditionally maintained a stance towards buying different corporations.

This inward focus contrasts sharply with the method of established platform giants who’ve made lots of of acquisitions:

Alphabet (Google) — 200+

Amazon — 125+

Meta — 100+

Microsoft — 275+

To scale successfully and exponentially, IT’s essential to take an ecosystem-first method.

Foot-Dragging On Interoperability vs. Interoperability by Default. The early historic method of many EHR distributors has been characterised as foot-dragging on interoperability, a stark distinction to the “interoperability by default” ethos of profitable platform companies.

Constructing One Firm vs. Constructing an Ecosystem of Companions. Lastly, till the previous decade the normal EHR mannequin was operated underneath the idea that exterior builders weren’t actually crucial, a viewpoint diametrically against the platform enterprise mannequin the place builders are central.

In 2017, Epic opened its app retailer to a gradual begin. Epic was seen as unresponsive by many app builders. We additionally keep in mind builders claiming that Epic was not respecting their mental property rights, i.e., “Your IP is now our IP.”

Epic has since developed far more vibrant developer packages. In but another blog post, Brendan Keeler describes and charges builders’ choices in working with Epic. He concludes by advising devs to “mood your expectations.”

Synthesis and Conclusion:

OK, we’ll admit that the Thesis/Antithesis factor was a little dramatic. Let’s revisit the wording:

• Thesis: EHRs Can Increase To Changing into UDHPs
• Antithesis: EHRs Can’t Develop into Efficient UDHPs

We’ll additionally concede that the wording is a bit deceptive — IT implies black/white eventualities underneath which EHRs both will or won’t develop into UDHPs. The truth, as at all times, is messier than a binary alternative. IT’s not ‘EHRs will completely develop into UDHPs’ or ‘EHRs are doomed to the dustbin of historical past.’ IT’s extra like…shades of grey, with a wholesome dose of ‘we’ll see.’”

The UDHP market could be very early — the Gartner report that we cited in our Health-platforms/” goal=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>earlier weblog publish on UDHPs estimated that the market is simply 5% penetrated and that UDHP adoption will take 5 to 10 years.

As we’ve famous, UDHPs may be adopted incrementally and over time. UDHPs can accommodate EHRs as elements, and UDHPs and EHRs will not be mutually unique: we don’t see EHRs as going away any time quickly.

We count on that completely different organizations will make completely different selections, relying on plenty of elements comparable to:

• Measurement and assets. Bigger Health techniques doubtless will see larger wants for a UDHP; smaller techniques extra doubtless will look to their EHR for integrations.
• Organizational complexity and geographic footprint. Multi-state footprints, a mixture of care settings throughout the acuity spectrum, and extensive ranges of specialties all add complexity, required connections, and extra alternative with a UDHP method.
• Present EHR vendor. Some EHR distributors would possibly succeed at growing UDHP capabilities, others may not. TBD.
• Pricing of UDHPs vs. EHRs. TBD.
• Evolution of UDHP capabilities and market acceptance. TBD.
• UDHP vendor and market evolution. In our earlier publish, we highlighted over 20 UDHP vendor “candidates”, and later prompt that this quantity would shrink drastically.

In our subsequent publish on this sequence, we’ll section the healthcare supplier market to guage for whom (which hospitals and Health techniques) the EHR might function the UDHP and when IT is smart to decide on a cloud-first resolution.

Vince Kuraitis JD/MBA is an unbiased guide with over 35 years’ expertise throughout 150+ healthcare & tech corporations.   Neil Jennings is Vice President, Consulting at Untangle Health. Vince publishes The Healthcare Platform Blog, the place this publish first appeared. The authors need to thank a number of colleagues for his or her evaluation and commentary on an earlier draft of this publish: Michael Byczkowski, World Head of Healthcare at SAP; Brendan Keeler, Interoperability Apply Lead at HTD Health; Sandra Raup, President at Datuit; and Chris Notaro, CEO of Untangle Health.