Has Allscripts Overplayed its Hand?

A new report from vendor research firm KLAS Enterprises finds Allscripts is maintaining its position as the most-considered vendor in outpatient electronic medical records purchases. But at the same time, the Chicago-based vendor, a year after its merger with Misys Healthcare Systems, faces declining customer satisfaction in several areas.


A new report from vendor research firm KLAS Enterprises finds Allscripts is maintaining its position as the most-considered vendor in outpatient electronic medical records purchases. But at the same time, the Chicago-based vendor, a year after its merger with Misys Healthcare Systems, faces declining customer satisfaction in several areas.

Orem, Utah-based KLAS interviewed 201 Allscripts clients for the report, "Allscripts: The Merger, the Upgrade and What it Means Today." Much of the report focuses on customer experiences with Allscripts' troubled latest version, v.11, of its 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," says Mark Wagner, report author and director of ambulatory research at KLAS. "Many of those version 10 clients are delaying an upgrade until the offering improves, and a few are leaving Allscripts altogether."

Addressing version 11 and handling merger issues have stretched Allscripts' customer service thin, according to KLAS. But these issues have not led to a mass departure of customers. For instance, six of seven interviewed Misys EMR users that are planning to replace their system intend to purchase Allscripts' Professional EHR.

The report is available at klasresearch.com. The cost is $980 for providers and $11,850 for nonproviders.

--Joseph Goedert