Dive Brief:
- EHR giant Epic is quietly moving into the medical billing space.
- A job description on the company’s website says “Epic is seeking bright, motivated individuals to join our new Billing Services team, as we enter the world of medical billing.”
- The goal, according to the notice, is to simplify the payment process by helping Epic organizations deal with claims submissions, payment postings, reconciling claims and more.
Dive Insight:
This is big news for Epic, as it has a large share of the EHR market and has been moving into the smaller provider space with more affordable, slimmed down versions of its All Terrain EHR.
In March, the company announced two new versions of its EHR due out later this year — Utility, a mid-range model with fewer advance features and modules, which will target midsize to small organizations, and Sonnet for smaller hospitals with limited ancillary services, post-acute facilities, critical access hospitals and physician practices.
Being able to get billing services as part of the package could be an added incentive for smaller hospitals with limited administrative staff.
Nearly 80% of EHR purchases in the U.S. last year were community hospitals with fewer than 200 beds, a recent KLAS Research report found. Last month, Cerner pointed to a “highly active replacement market” with about 2,400 sites on legacy or acquired platforms that could be looking for a change of system.