After a long tenure as "Best in KLAS Overall Software Vendor," Epic Systems has been replaced by athenahealth for the top spot in this year's ranking, which is tallied based on provider feedback.
That's the first time Epic has been edged out of that category since 2008, when KLAS first began ranking an overall software leader.
athenahealth was also ranked first in the Overall Physician Practice Vendor category, as well as in the Practice Management Service (1-10 and 11-75 physician categories) and Patient Portal brackets.
The Watertown, Mass.-based vendor was quick to seize upon the results as validation, touting its own cloud-based software as the antithesis of Epic's client-server technology.
"Clearly, the tide is changing in health care," said athenahealth chairman and CEO Jonathan Bush, in a press statement. "The old guard of health IT leaders is finally being displaced by more nimble, innovative models designed for health care's future – not for its past."
athenahealth was also ranked first in the overall physician practice vendor category, as well as in the practice management (one-10 and 11-75 physician categories) and patient portal brackets.
Still, while Epic was displaced as overall software vendor, the Verona, Wis.-based behemoth did maintain its ranking as the top overall software suite. It garnered nine awards in total: ambulatory EMR (11-75 and 75-plus physicians); acute care EMR; surgery management; radiology; pharmacy; patient accounting and patient management; heath information exchange and practice management (75-plus physicians).
All told, though, there were plenty of awards to go around for a widening and ever-more-advanced slate of technology categories.
“We listened to the providers, and these are the results,” said Adam Gale, CEO and president of KLAS Research, in a statement. “This report isn’t about KLAS. It is a reflection of thousands of providers who wanted to be heard and counted. That is the reason top-performing vendors should be proud of their achievements."
See the next page for 2013 Best in KLAS winners.
OVERALL VENDOR RANKINGS
1. athenahealth
2. Epic
3. Wolters Kluwer
4. 3M
5. FUJIFILM
6. MedAssets
7. Picis
8. Merge Healthcare
9. CareFusion
10. QuadraMed
11. Sunquest
12. Philips
13. Optum
14. Greenway Medical
15. eClinicalWorks
16. GE Healthcare
17. Cerner
18. RelayHealth
19. Siemens
20. McKesson
21. NextGen Healthcare
22. MEDITECH
23. Allscripts
24. Agfa HealthCare
SOFTWARE
Acute Care EMR
Epic EpicCare Inpatient EMR (Large - over 200 beds)
Ambulatory EMR (1-10 physicians)
SRSsoft SRS EHR
Ambulatory EMR (11-75 physicians)
Epic EpicCare Ambulatory EMR
Ambulatory EMR (Over 75 Physicians)
Epic EpicCare Ambulatory EMR
Business Intelligence Analytics
QlikTech QlikView
Cardiology
Merge Healthcare Merge Cardio (acute care)
Claims and Clearinghouse
ZirMed Clearinghouse
Community HIS
Cerner CommunityWorks Community HIS (small - 1-200 beds)
Document Management and Imaging
Quest Diagnostics ChartMaxx
Emergency Department
Wellsoft EDIS (acute care)
Enterprise Scheduling
Unibased USA RMS
Financial ERP
McKesson ERP Solutions
Health Information Exchange
Epic Care Everywhere
Homecare
Thornberry NDoc (Home Health)
Laboratory
Siemens NOVIUS Lab (Large - Over 200 Beds)
PACS
Sectra PACS (Large - Over 200 Beds)
Patient Accounting and Patient Management
Epic Resolute Hospital Billing (Large - Over 200 Beds)
Patient Portals
athenahealth athenaCommunicator
Pharmacy
Epic Willow
Practice Management (1-10 Physicians)
athenahealth athenaCollector
Practice Management (11-75 physicians)
athenahealth athenaCollector
Practice Management (over 75 physicians)
Epic Resolute/Prelude/Cadence Ambulatory
Radiology
Epic Radiant (Large - over 200 Beds)
Speech Recognition
Dolbey Fusion Speech (BES)
Surgery Management
Epic OpTime
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Application Hosting (CIS ERP HIS)
Cerner Application Hosting
Clinical Implementation Principal
Impact Advisors Implementation – Principal - Clinical
Clinical Implementation Supportive
Sagacious Consultants Implementation – Supportive - Clinical
Extended Business Office
Cymetrix Extended Business Office
IT Outsourcing
CareTech Solutions IT Outsourcing
IT Outsourcing (partial)
CareTech Solutions IT Outsourcing
Planning and Assessment
Cornerstone Advisors Planning & Assessment
Revenue Cycle Transformation
PwC Revenue Cycle Transformation
Technical Services
J2 Interactive Technical Service
Teleradiology Services
Rays Teleradiology Services (Nightrays)
Transcription Services
Precyse Transcription Services
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
Automated Medication Dispensing Units
Omnicell OmniRx
Computed Tomography - 64-slice+
Philips Ingenuity CT 128
Digital X-ray
Carestream DRX-Evolution
Magnetic Resonance - 1.5T
Philips Ingenia 1.5T MR
Magnetic Resonance - 3.0T
Philips Ingenia 3.0T MR
Mammography - Digital
Hologic Selenia Dimensions 3D Breast Tomosynthesis
Radiation Therapy
Elekta Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion
Smart Pumps - LVP
Baxter Healthcare SIGMA Spectrum
Ultrasound - Cardiovascular
Philips iE33
Ultrasound - General Imaging
Toshiba Aplio 500
INFRASTRUCTURE
Wireless Communications
Vocera Badges
