Despite the presence of corporate giants and a significant merger, there is still no one company that dominates the market for electronic medical records (EMR). These are the latest findings of Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA), an independent market research firm.

Among the primary market participants are established hospital information technology (IT) giants such as Cerner, GE Healthcare, McKesson (San Francisco, CA, USA), and Siemens. Allscripts (Chicago, IL, USA), which completed a merger with Eclypsis in 2010, executed a major play for market share and is expected to hold a significant share in the ambulatory market this year, while companies such as NextGen, athenahealth (Watertown, MA, USA), and Amazing Charts continue to be seen in physician surveys. However, physicians do not appear to have a clear favorite yet, according to an analysis of recent American College of Physicians (ACP) and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) surveys; many of them are also willing to try products advertised on the Internet, which could be a hopeful sign for new market entrants.

"Physicians are all over the board in their association surveys, so there might be opportunity there for a web-based product with a great interface," said Bruce Carlson, the publisher of Kalorama Information. "Since doctors' needs vary, becoming a regional provider or a niche provider to a physician specialty is still a valid option as well."

"You still have no one company that is the leader in EMR, but there is a clear pack of competitors now," concluded Mr. Carlson. "There are still opportunities for new entrants, but this may not be the case for long as the competitive picture is more defined than it was."

Kalorama Information valued the market for EMR at US$15.7 billion in 2010, with the revenue generated from a wide variety of vendors, including hospital IT vendors and small web-based companies.

Guangzhou Jia Yu medical equipment Limited