What are the top 3 EHR systems in healthcare?
Written by Shen Mie Erl Calum
Edited and Reviewed by Reuben J C. Los Baños, Ph.D.
The top 3 EHR systems in healthcare are Epic, Oracle Health (Cerner), and MEDITECH; these systems lead the hospital market because they handle electronic health records, clinical workflows, and billing on a single platform that supports many departments and facilities.
Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a secure digital version of a patient’s chart. It includes the person’s history, diagnoses, lab results, medications, allergies, and visit notes. EHRs also support daily work such as ordering tests, giving medications, scheduling appointments, and sending bills.
The three EHRs you see most in hospitals are:
- Epic Systems – Very common in large and academic hospitals
- Oracle Health (Cerner) – Used in community, regional, and some national systems
- MEDITECH (Expanse) – Strong in community hospitals and many hospitals outside the U.S.
All three can:
- Store and update patient records in real time
- Support doctors and nurses in writing notes and placing orders
- Help pharmacists manage medications
- Connect to lab and imaging systems
- Send data to billing and insurance systems
- They differ in cost, design, and how they fit organizations of different sizes and types.
Epic Systems
Epic is often the main choice for very large hospitals and health systems. It was designed from the start as a single, integrated platform.
Key concepts with Epic:
- Patient record: Each patient has a single digital record used across all clinics and hospitals in the system.
- Order entry: Doctors can order lab tests and medications directly in the Epic system.
- Documentation: Nurses and doctors write down notes and vital signs in the Epic system.
- Medication management: The Epic system checks to ensure patients are not given excessive doses or medications to which they are allergic.
- Revenue cycle: The Epic system helps with billing and getting paid.
- Patient portal: Patients can use something called MyChart to check their results and send messages to their doctors.
Epic is often chosen when:
- Have multiple hospitals and clinics
- Want standard workflows and rules across all sites
- Need strong interoperability (the ability to exchange data with other systems and organizations)
Oracle health
Oracle Health, formerly known as Cerner, is another electronic health record system. It is now part of Oracle, a company that specializes in storing and managing data.
Important information about Oracle Health
- Clinical EHR: Physicians and nurses utilize the system to manage medications, write notes, place orders, and review medical histories.
- Oracle data platforms: Large datasets and analytics are supported by
Oracle’s database and cloud services, which the EHR can run on.
- Analytics and dashboards: Monitor things like performance and safety. Quality gets included too. It seems helpful for keeping an eye on everything.
- AI and voice tools (in more recent builds): To expedite documentation and draw attention to hazards, some versions incorporate voice commands and artificial intelligence.
Hospitals often select Oracle Health when:
- They already use Oracle tools (cloud, databases, ERP) extensively.
- They want efficient reporting and data management.
- They need a flexible setup for different kinds of facilities (hospitals, clinics, government programs).
MEDITECH (Expanse)
Community and regional hospitals commonly utilize MEDITECH, especially the Expanse platform, which has a notable international presence.
Key concepts with MEDITECH:
- Online interface: The majority of the system can be accessed through a web browser.
- Modular structure: There are modules for emergencies, pharmacy services, billing, inpatient care, outpatient appointments, and laboratory.
- Clinical-financial connection: Documentation is closely related to coding and billing, which can speed up payment and reduce errors.
- Cloud-compatible: To reduce dependence on local equipment, numerous setups utilize cloud-based or hosted solutions.
MEDITECH is chosen by hospitals when they:
- They currently utilize numerous Oracle tools (databases, cloud solutions, ERP systems).
- They desire robust reporting and data administration.
- A versatile configuration is required for various types of facilities (clinics, hospitals, government initiatives).
Hospitals choose MEDITECH when they:
- require a full EHR, yet the budget is less than that of the largest systems.
- Want a cloud-based, streamlined system that continues to handle key hospital functions.
- operate as smaller networks or community hospitals that do not need the full complexity of Oracle Health or Epic.
What is the easiest EHR to use?
Athenahealth is an EHR that runs in the cloud. This means you access it through a web browser, and the vendor manages servers and updates.
Important features that affect ease of use:
- Simple navigation: Screens show only a few key actions, such as “document visit,” “order tests,” or “send prescription.”
- Integrated practice management: Scheduling, claims, and payments are built into the same system as the clinical record.
- Automatic updates: You do not install upgrades; the vendor pushes improvements to all users.
- Remote access: As long as you have a secure internet connection, you can log in from different locations.
Athenahealth works best for:
- Outpatient clinics
- Small to mid-size group practices
- Settings with limited local IT support
Large hospitals may still use big systems like Epic or Oracle Health because they need more complex inpatient tools and integration with many departments.
What EHR do most hospitals use?
Most large hospitals and health systems use Epic as their primary EHR because it integrates patient records, clinical workflows, and billing into a single system spanning multiple hospitals and clinics. When you look at large acute-care medical facilities and large health networks, Epic is most often the primary EHR.
This is due to:
- Enterprise design: Support inpatient, outpatient, emergency, and specialty care in one platform.
- Shared record: All sites see the same up-to-date information for each patient, which improves coordination.
- Interoperability tools: Epic supports data exchange within its own network and with other EHRs.
- Proven use in big systems: Many large organizations have already invested in Epic, which builds trust among new buyers.
Oracle Health and MEDITECH also have many hospital customers. They remain strong choices, especially for community hospitals and certain regions, but Epic holds the largest share among big health systems.
Is Cerner or Epic better?
Epic is usually better for very large, complex health systems that want a single, tightly integrated EHR. At the same time, Oracle Health (Cerner) can be better for organizations that already use Oracle technology or want strong data and cloud capabilities.
You cannot say that one EHR is always “better” for everyone. You must align the system with your organization’s needs.
Epic may be a better fit when:
- You have multiple hospitals, clinics, and specialty centers
- You want strict standard workflows and rules across the whole system
- You need robust tools for population health, quality reporting, and patient engagement
- Oracle Health may be a better fit when:
- Your IT environment already runs on Oracle databases or Oracle Cloud
- You plan to build advanced analytics or data warehouses on top of your EHR
- You want flexibility to support different hospital and clinic types in the same network
The best way to decide is to:
- List your clinical and financial needs
- Review your current IT systems and staff skills
- Estimate the total cost over several years
- Involve clinicians, IT, and leaders in structured testing and demos
Who is Cerner’s biggest competitor?
Epic is Cerner’s biggest competitor, because both focus on hospital and health-system EHRs and often appear as the final two choices when organizations select an enterprise-level system.
In most large EHR selection projects, hospitals compare Epic and Oracle Health side by side.
Both:
- Cover inpatient and outpatient care
- Support complex workflows and many specialties; offer integrated billing and revenue tools
- Provide tools for data exchange and analytics
Other vendors compete in specific niches, for example, MEDITECH in community hospitals or Athenahealth in clinicsbut Epic is the main direct rival Cerner faces in large hospital markets.
What operating system do most hospitals use?
Most hospitals use Microsoft Windows on clinical desktops and workstations, a mix of Windows Server and Linux/Unix on servers, and iOS and Android on mobile devices. You can think of hospital technology in three layers: desktops, servers, and mobile devices.
1. Desktops and workstations
- Most nursing stations, physician workstations, and workstations on wheels run Microsoft Windows.
- EHR clients, office programs, and many device drivers are built for Windows first.
2. Servers and back-end systems
- Windows Server hosts applications, web services, and some EHR parts.
- Linux and Unix take over for databases. Integration engines run there as well. The services that connect systems are high-performance ones on those platforms.
3. Mobile devices
iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices are used for mobile EHR apps, secure messaging, and patient portals.
The result is a mixed environment in which the EHR must work across multiple operating systems. However, when you sit down at a hospital workstation, you are most likely using Windows.
What is the most popular healthcare software?
Epic is the most widely used large-scale healthcare software platform among hospitals. Because it integrates clinical workflows, scheduling, billing, patient portals, electronic health records, and reporting into a single system, In large hospitals and health systems, Epic is the single name you see most often when you ask, “What software runs your clinical and billing work?”
Epic serves as:
- The main electronic health record for inpatient and outpatient care.
- The system that hospitals use to order lab tests and get images.
- The tool that nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff use to do their work
- The system that hospitals use to bill patients, which is connected to the patient’s medical information and payments
- The website that patients can use to see their records, test results, and appointments
Oracle Health and MEDITECH are also widely used in hospitals. When patients are not in the hospital, systems like Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, and NextGen are popular. Among large hospital networks, Epic is the most widely used.
Conclusion
I learned about the Electronic Health Record systems. Epic, Oracle Health, and MEDITECH. These Electronic Health Record systems are really important for making healthcare better. They help doctors and nurses take care of patients safely. Each Electronic Health Record system has its good points and is used by different hospitals and clinics. But they all do the same thing. They help healthcare professionals get the right information about patients.
As a student of Medical Technology, I think it is very important to learn about Electronic Health Record systems. We need to know how to use them to do our jobs. Medical technologists do tests in the laboratory to help doctors figure out what is wrong with patients. We use Electronic Health Record systems to put in the results of these tests and to look at information about patients. So it is very important for us to know how to use Electronic Health Record systems. If we use them correctly, we can reduce mistakes. Help patients get the right treatment at the right time.
I also learned that healthcare is using more technology. As healthcare professionals, we need to be able to use computers and other digital tools. We need to keep learning and getting better at using these tools. I think that learning about Electronic Health Record systems like Epic, Oracle Health, and MEDITECH while I am still in college will help me when I start working in a laboratory. It will help me be a medical technologist and take care of patients. I want to be able to use Electronic Health Record systems and help patients get the best care possible.
REFERENCES
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Oracle Health. (n.d.). Oracle Health. https://www.oracle.com MEDITECH. (n.d.). MEDITECH Expanse. https://www.meditech.com KLAS Research. (2024). U.S. Acute Care EHR Market Share Report. Epic Systems. (n.d.). MyChart. https://www.mychart.org
Epic Systems. (n.d.). Epic software. https://www.epic.com/software
Oracle Corporation. (2022). Oracle completes acquisition of Cerner. Oracle Health. (n.d.). Electronic Health Record.
https://www.oracle.com/health/electronic-health-record
MEDITECH. (n.d.). Expanse Electronic Health Record. https://ehr.meditech.com athenahealth. (n.d.). Electronic Health Records.
Definitive Healthcare. (2024). Top EHR Vendors by Hospital Market Share. HIMSS. (n.d.). Electronic Health Records. https://www.himss.org
KLAS Research. (2024). EHR Competitive Landscape.
HIMSS. (n.d.). Electronic Health Records. https://www.himss.org Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/health
Red Hat. (n.d.). Healthcare Solutions. https://www.redhat.com/en/industries/healthcare
