KLAS Examines Allscripts One Year After the Misys Merger

    OREM, UT, November 17, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- One year after its landmark merger with Misys, electronic medical record (EMR) vendor Allscripts is at a crossroads, facing declining customer satisfaction in several key areas while still maintaining its position as the most-considered vendor in outpatient EMR purchases. A new report from KLAS takes a closer look at the company's struggles and opportunities as the race for meaningful use gets underway.

The KLAS report, "Allscripts: The Merger, the Upgrade and What it Means Today", reflects the opinions of 200 Allscripts customers who are using the company's EMR or practice management (PM) products. Much of the report is dedicated to highlighting the experience of customers who have adopted the latest version, v.11, of the Allscripts Enterprise EHR.

"Allscripts is the most-often-considered EMR vendor in the ambulatory market, but the premature release of version 11 has generated major challenges for nearly every Enterprise client - and today there is still a significant gap between the customer satisfaction of version 10 clients and those who have deployed version 11," said Mark Wagner, KLAS director of ambulatory research and author of the new report. "Many of those version 10 clients are delaying an upgrade until the offering improves, and a few are leaving Allscripts altogether."

Despite the challenges, however, some v.11 clients - typically those who have been willing to invest significant time and resources and who have deployed version 11.1.5 or higher - are now recognizing positive benefits. In particular, these customers are reporting greater stability and improved workflow and efficiency. Also noteworthy is the fact that 100 percent of the v.11 customers surveyed are connecting directly to retail pharmacies.

According to the KLAS report, the Allscripts-Misys merger has also contributed to some of the customer satisfaction struggles. In particular, customer perception is that Allscripts has had to shift its technical and support resources to work on cementing the merger, migrating existing Misys clients to Allscripts solutions, and addressing a host of issues with Enterprise v.11, leaving many frustrated Enterprise clients.

Customer service has traditionally been an Allscripts strength, but that service has been stretched thin by the merger and recent product issues. At the same time, that frustration has not led to a mass departure of EMR customers. To the contrary, the KLAS study found that 85 percent of interviewed Misys EMR users planning to replace their EMR intend to purchase the Allscripts Professional EHR. Allscripts appears to be keeping migration costs relatively low - a compelling move that should help retain many Misys clients.

To learn more about Allscripts and the ambulatory EMR market, the report "Allscripts: The Merger, the Upgrade and What it Means Today" 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/reports.

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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