This week’s graphic illustrates how Epic has continued to expand its lead in the electronic health record (EHR) market over its rival Oracle Health, which acquired Cerner in 2022. From 2016 to 2023, Epic increased its acute care hospital market share from 26% to 39%; meanwhile, Oracle’s share held flat at about 25% until decreasing to 23% in 2023. Additionally, Epic controls 52% of the acute hospital care market by bed count, more than double that of Oracle. Thus far, Oracle and other, smaller competitors have been unable to curb Epic’s rise, as Epic was the only EHR vendor to increase its hospital-bed market share last year. In 2023, Epic brought under its platform 45 new acute care organizations and 153 hospitals, while Oracle lost 24 organizations and 71 hospitals on net. Oracle continues to grow outside the US and with smaller, standalone hospitals, but its current product is proving unpopular with large health systems. In a bid to potentially reverse this trend, Oracle announced plans to launch a new AI-forward EHR in 2025. With Epic also integrating AI into its EHR software, it will be interesting to see which company leverages this burgeoning technology more effectively to fuel future growth.
