Meditech Version 6: Will the Upgrade Help Hospitals Achieve Meaningful Use?

    OREM, UT, July 22, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A new KLAS report takes a closer look at the latest release of the Meditech electronic medical record (EMR) software and whether it's a viable solution to help Meditech's more than 2,000 clinical customers reach the meaningful use threshold.

The release of Meditech 6.0 brings with it high expectations for making the software better suited for physician use, which is a key aspect of the federal government's definition of meaningful use and a traditional weakness of Meditech systems. According to the KLAS report "Meditech Version 6: A Strong Step Forward?", early adopters of version 6 are reporting positive results, including an improved user interface and easier navigation, but many obstacles still stand in the way of widespread adoption.

"Meditech has long struggled with deep CPOE adoption, and version 6 is geared toward addressing that gap," said Jason Hess, KLAS general manager of clinical research and author of the Meditech report. "However, several issues will likely impact how quickly version 6 is rolled out to the Meditech customer base.

"One issue is scale," Hess said. "With more than 2,000 clinical clients, Meditech faces a daunting task upgrading that entire base in time to take advantage of all of the available federal stimulus dollars. A second, even more significant challenge is cost."

Pam McNutt, senior VP and CIO at Methodist Health System in Dallas and a Meditech client, agrees that the challenge Meditech faces with CPOE adoption is more a financial barrier than a software barrier. According to McNutt, getting to Meditech version 5.6 - the last step before version 6.0 - is the key.

"KLAS tags Meditech as a high risk for achieving high CPOE adoption," McNutt said. "Even though Meditech statistically does not have as many 200-bed clients with deep CPOE adoption as most competitors, they do have many hospitals that have been successful with CPOE, which inherently means it can be done. Meditech clients on 5.6 can achieve deep levels of CPOE adoption. The real issue is resources to fund the effort to get to CPOE - and many Meditech clients are financially constrained community hospitals, meaning that resources will be the obstacle, not Meditech software."

Those cost concerns, plus the fact that the technology of version 6 is such as significant upgrade, have led some customers to consider moving to another solution. Most of the hospitals considering a switch are community hospitals with fewer than 200 beds, which will likely have less access to capital and human resources and cannot afford CPOE false starts. Though Meditech does not charge clients for software upgrades, version 6 will still be more costly than the original investment for many Meditech customers, due to implementation fees, hardware and infrastructure upgrades, and other associated software costs, such as adding new modules.

The KLAS report notes that more than 25 percent of Meditech MAGIC and C/S customers are either planning to investigate other options or planning to migrate to a new core clinical product. Six percent of that client base indicated they are planning to switch from Meditech specifically because of the version 6 upgrade. The good news for Meditech, however, is that almost three quarters of its clients are so comfortable with the company's solutions and performance that they are expecting to continue on with the relationship and see little risk in the 6.0 conversion.

To learn more about the impact, market adoption and potential benefits of Meditech 6.0, the report "Meditech Version 6: A Strong Step Forward?" is available to healthcare providers online for a significant discount off the standard retail price. To purchase the full report, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com.

About KLAS

KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors and vendors. Working together with executives from more than 4,500 hospitals and over 2,500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures the performance of software, professional services and medical equipment vendors. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email [email protected] or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative.

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