ED information systems market to grow 30 percent

The emergency department information system market, worth $110 million in 2010, will grow by more than 30 percent in 2011, according to the Millennium Research Group, a global authority on medical technology market intelligence.

The growth is attributed to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, initiated in 2009, which includes more than $40 billion for electronic health record adoption to help facilities and physicians improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

"The emergency department information systems market for small and medium hospitals will see the most growth through 2015, with revenues expanding at compound annual growth rates of approximately 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively," said Michelle Li, senior analyst at MRG. "This is because many large hospitals have already adopted an electronic department information system."

Officials say that by providing incentive funding, facilities and physicians that normally would not be able to afford or be inclined to install an electronic health record now have the means and motive of adopting one. In addition,  those who do not will be penalized beginning in 2015 with reduced Medicare reimbursements.

“Larger facilities have always had a greater need for automation and more capital for purchasing these systems, so this market is fairly mature,” Senior said. “The ARRA incentive funding will, however, encourage greater adoption in the largely under-penetrated small and medium hospital segments. Adoption of emergency department information systems by critical access hospitals (CAH), the majority of which are smaller facilities, will also fuel growth in these segments because CAHs have historically been under-funded and have fewer IT resources.”

“Unit sales and revenues will therefore grow at a faster pace in these facilities compared to large hospitals," he said.

MRG's “US Markets for High-Acuity Information Systems 2011” report provides insight into trends that will fuel and limit market growth for high-acuity information systems in the United States, with coverage of emergency department, critical care and perioperative information systems. The report includes a breakdown of unit volumes, average selling prices, market values, installed base and market shares in each market segment.