Considering the tremendous amount of political talk about EMR and EHR systems, you’d think that the number of EMR companies would continue to grow.  It makes sense that entrepreneurs would chase after the $$’s that they see being invested in EMR, EHR and health care IT.  However, I personally believe that the number of EMR companies will decrease in the next year rather than increase.

The number one reason that EMR companies will descrease over the next year is that we’re going to see an amazing number of EMR companies failing.  The current economic climate is not the best time to be an EMR company.  Those EMR companies who require sales of EMR software to survive are going to have major troubles surviving.  Many EMR companies gain most of their revenue through the upfront initial cost of the EMR.  It will be interesting to see how many EMR companies have enough financial reserve to survive the current economic crisis.  Within 6 months I expect to see a plethora of EMR companies shutting down their business.

I think we can also expect a number of EMR companies to consolidate.  Sometimes this will happen because of the previous point.  Other times it will just be a natural part of the growth of the industry.  Either way, we can expect to see a major consolidation in the industry.

Understanding what’s going to happen is really important for those using and selecting an EMR.  Expect support times to really slow down if a merger or acquisition occurs to the EMR software you’re using.  Also, if your EMR software company shuts down, how will that impact you?  Might be a good time to talk with your EMR company and try your best to measure their future viability as a company.