177 new hospital contracts last year, but lost a total of 77 accounts — many of which migrated over to Epic, per Healthcare Leaders.
Epic poached contracts from its competitors. Epic won out with a net gain of 121 accounts — and while Cerner signed 55 more contracts with hospitals than Epic in 2018, Epic only lost one. And the three large, private organizations that shifted EHR vendors dropped Cerner and Allscripts for Epic.M&A deals among hospitals and health systems in 2018, per healthcare consultancy Kaufman Hall. Meditech started the year with 33 hospital clients, but claimed half as many by the year's end.
Continued M&A activity could threaten EHR vendors that are hanging onto a dwindling number of customers. After a record high in 2018, we expect hospital deal-making will maintain at a high level in 2019 despite a Q1. As we saw last year, consolidation doesn't bode well for players that are up against Epic and Cerner.US hospitals are eyeing Apple Health Records — part of Apple's Health app that consolidates medical records. Apple Health Records likely won't upend established EHR vendors, but could eventually muscle into the market and threaten smaller players with shrinking customer bases.