The electronic health records (EHR) market has been gaining traction over the past decade owing to the increasing awareness about the benefits of digital health records such as improved quality of care, reduced medical errors, improved clinical workflow and communication. EHR or digital health records help healthcare providers to easily track patients’ medical history, diagnose diseases, prescribe treatment and monitor ongoing care. The installation of EHR solutions help healthcare organizations to securely store and share health information electronically, work more efficiently and offer organized and coordinated care. The Global electronic health records market is estimated to be valued at US$ 29.06 Billion in 2024 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 2.8% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030.
Key Takeaways
Key players operating in the electronic health records market are eClinicalWorks, Cerner Corporation, GE Healthcare, Allscripts Healthcare, LLC, and Epic Systems Corporation.
The growing need to curtail rising healthcare costs and increase revenue from value-based reimbursements present significant opportunities in the electronic health records market. Meanwhile, advances in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning are enabling the development of more customized and predictive EHR solutions.
Market Drivers
The primary driver for the electronic health records market is government support and initiatives towards digitizing healthcare records. Many countries are offering incentives to healthcare providers to adopt and meaningfully use EHRs. For instance, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in the US provided billions of dollars in incentives. This is encouraging more physicians, hospitals and other entities to install EHR solutions. Secondly, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital healthcare records for contact tracing and telemedicine. This is expected to provide a further boost to EHR adoption over the forecast period.
Current challenges in Electronic Health Records Market
The Electronic Health Records Market faces various challenges such as high costs associated with the implementation and maintenance of EHR systems, interoperability issues between different EHR systems, shortage of skilled healthcare IT professionals, data security and privacy concerns, patient and physician reluctance to adopt new technologies. Additionally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has posed operational challenges for healthcare providers to seamlessly transition to digital platforms and virtually engage with patients. Overcoming these challenges through advancements in technologies, investments in training and upgrades, governance policies and initiatives will help facilitate the faster adoption of EHR systems.
SWOT Analysis
Strength: EHR systems enhance clinical workflow efficiencies, facilitate data-driven decision making, and improve health outcomes. They also help reduce medical errors and healthcare costs.
Weakness: Significant financial investments are required for EHR adoption and ongoing maintenance. Smaller medical practices may find the costs prohibitive.
Opportunity: Government support and subsidies in the form of financial incentives are driving increased EHR adoption globally. Growing telehealth industry amid COVID-19 is also expanding opportunities.
Threats: Interoperability issues between different systems can limit data sharing abilities. Cybersecurity threats pose risks of data breaches and privacy violations.
Geographical regions – North America dominates the Electronic Health Records MarketElectronic Health Records Market currently accounting for around 45% of the global market value owing to supportive government policies and initiatives focusing on healthcare digitization in the region.
Fastest growing region – Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period backed by rising healthcare expenditures, increasing penetration of health insurance, growing incidence of chronic diseases and initiatives towards modernizing healthcare infrastructure in countries such as India, China and Japan.
