Vendor satisfaction falls across the board in 2009 'Best in KLAS'

This can't bode well for the upcoming rush to install EMRs in 2010: Vendor satisfaction rates are down pretty much across the board in this year's ambulatory Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards from Orem, Utah-based KLAS Enterprises.

"An early buyer is probably more willing to put up with technology glitches and functionality that may not be as easy to use as it needs to be," KLAS President Adam Gale says in an interview with Health Imaging & IT. "[However] people today expect a mature market where the products work," Gale adds.

Notably, ambulatory EMR was the lowest-performing software market segment this year, according to KLAS. Gale says that most providers interviewed expressed a "significant decrease in satisfaction" with "just about every vendor" in this segment. The top-performing software segment was enterprise scheduling, while planning and assessment tools scored best among professional services. IT outsourcing was at the bottom of the latter category.

For the fourth year in a row, PrimeSuite Practice from Greenway Medical Technologies led among practices with six to 25 physicians, and also took top honors in the category of two to five physicians. The eClinicalWorks EMR led among practices of 26 to 100 doctors, while EpicCare Ambulatory from Epic Systems was rated highest by large medical practices.

For more:
- check out this Health Imaging and IT story
- take a look at this Medscape Medical News story (reg. req.)
- see a detailed list of category winners, as reported in Health Data Management

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