Epic, Nordic, Impact Advisors, The Chartis Group and Medasource were the five companies with the best performances in this year’s Best in KLAS Awards. The rankings, which were released on Wednesday, grade health IT vendors and consulting firms based on feedback from healthcare organizations that have adopted their products or used their services.
KLAS Research named Epic as the top overall software suite for the thirteenth year in a row. Meditech Expanse’s health IT software suite came in second place, followed by CPSI Evident Thrive and Oracle Cerner.
Epic
Epic won 15 Best in KLAS awards across various market segments, including best acute care electronic health record (EHR), best ambulatory EHR and best practice management system.
The Verona, Wisconsin-based company made a number of notable moves last year. For example, Epic giant made a deal with Google Cloud to allow health systems to migrate their EHRs to the cloud. New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian Health was the first to do so.
The health IT giant also launched a life sciences program to accelerate clinical trials and the development of new therapies, as well as a customer relationship management system that sends proactive messages to patients who use Epic’s MyChart portal.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Epic owns the biggest portion of the U.S. hospital EHR market at 32.9%, according to the latest data from KLAS. Oracle Cerner has the second-largest share at 24.4%.
For the last decade, Epic’s revenue has grown by double-digits every year — in 2021, the company’s annual revenue grew by 13% and hit $3.8 billion. Last year’s earnings haven’t been announced yet.
Nordic
Nordic tied with Impact Advisors as co-winner of the overall IT services firm category. Nordic won this category last year as well.
The global consulting firm says it consists of more than 2,000 strategists, architects, engineers, clinicians, project leaders and trainers from around the world. These consultants work with health systems to establish more efficient processes for their technology.
For example, the University of Kansas Health System recently partnered with Nordic to establish a virtual training program for employees as a part of an enterprise Epic extension project.
The consulting firm’s annual revenue was $179 million in 2021, according to RocketReach.
Impact Advisors
Impact Advisors, the co-winner of the overall IT services firm category, offers consultants with expertise across a range of healthcare domains — including clinical, financial, operational and technical.
Like Nordic, the consulting group has partnered with a number of large healthcare organizations to improve their IT operations. For instance, the company recently assisted Bozeman Health with its Epic installation, as well as helped City of Hope decrease payment denials during the revenue cycle process.
The company, which is based in the Chicago metro area, reached a revenue of $75 million in 2021, according to Zippia.
The Chartis Group
The Chartis Group, also based in Chicago, won the overall healthcare management consulting firm category for the third year in a row. The company employs more than 600 consultants, including those with experience as physicians, data scientists, nurses and informaticists.
According to its website, The Chartis Group serves more than 600 healthcare organizations per year.
The firm assists these organizations with a range of projects. For example, The Chartis Group worked with Virtua Health to establish the health system’s hospital-at-home program, and it also helped Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health with the clinical integration planning process after they finalized their strategic merger.
The company’s annual revenue was $213 million in 2021, according to RocketReach.
Medasource
Medasource beat out CPSI as the top overall implementation services firm. The Indianapolis-based company works with providers, payers and life sciences organizations on technology projects, such as revenue cycle overhauls and establishing telehealth programs.
In addition to its consulting services, Medasource also offers an EHR efficiency program that providers can adopt to get the most of their technology investments.
The company’s annual revenue for 2021 totaled $20 million, according to Zippia.
Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images
