Epic Systems Among the Leading Home Care EHR Vendors

MatrixCare and Epic Systems have separated themselves as the top two home care EHR vendors among midsize and larger home health organizations based on overall performance and customer satisfaction, according to a recent KLAS Performance Report.

Although home care serves over 5 million patients each year, it remains an understudied healthcare setting. KLAS interviewed over 150 home care organizations to assess overall performance, usability, and customer satisfaction.

MatrixCare led the way with an 88.3 overall performance score, based on a 100-point scale. Epic came in a close second and above the market average with an 86.6 score. WellSky scored slightly above market average with a 78.1 score, while MEDITECH scored an 86.2, but with limited data available.

MatrixCare customers rated the vendor with the highest or second-highest rating across all KLAS metrics in this report. Its respondents reported an overall positive and high-value experience. Although the vendor has yet to be considered by larger organizations with over 500 employees, it dominated the small and midsize sectors with 100 percent of its customers reporting the vendor is a part of their long-term plans.

“Customers report good implementation and training and proactive, helpful, communicative service and support,” KLAS wrote about MatrixCare.

The majority of Epic Dorothy customers are health system-owned organizations that leverage Epic’s EHR platform throughout the system. Just like Epic’s EHR platform, its clients viewed its relationships with the vendor as a strength and 100 percent of Epic respondents said the vendor is a part of their long-term plans.

“When it comes to the product, Epic has taken recent strides to improve; Epic’s efforts have resulted in consistent growth in client satisfaction over three years (by almost 10% total) as the vendor has rolled out product enhancements,” KLAS wrote.

However, Epic clients want enhanced usability and better remote home health functionality.

MEDITECH graded positively and its customers reported a strong customer experience. However, the majority of its clients are small, which was not a KLAS focus for this report.

Homecare Homebase customers span across all sizes, but mostly the largest home health organizations. Ninety-five percent of its customers plan to keep Homecare Homebase in their plans in the future, mostly because its customers said they felt no other vendor could provide comprehensive functionality for large organizations.

This high loyalty comes despite a below-average overall experience,” wrote KLAS. “While the product has long been perceived as highly functional, customers feel the overall experience has not kept pace with the high expectations created by the solution’s cost. Homecare Homebase receives the lowest support ratings in this report.”

Homecare Homebase struggles with product expertise, follow-up, issue response, turnover, and understaffing, respondents said. Less than half of its clients reported the vendor kept its promises.

Small to midsize organizations tap WellSky for their cloud-based platform, which earned a top usability score. According to its customers, this platform also meets midsize to large organizational needs, but some respondents said the platform needs enhanced offline experience and improved basic reporting features.

“WellSky’s recent growth and acquisitions have hurt client satisfaction,” KLAS wrote. “Midsize agencies report the biggest impact, including weakened relationships and insufficient communication. These respondents have felt lost in the shuffle of account managers and say support requests often languish.”

Larger agencies do not typically leverage WellSky’s platform, but the few respondents noted strong communication and vendor relationships.

Netsmart respondents who leverage Homecare Advisor, which it acquired from Change Healthcare, or the Homecare platform, which it acquired from Allscripts, reported product development dissatisfaction. Furthermore, many of its customers said their relationships deteriorated since the acquisitions and could consider moving on to another vendor in the future.

“While interviewed customers say their current products have not been sunsetted, meaningful development has slowed—for example, Homecare Advisor users mention delays in the release of a tablet-based solution,” KLAS explained.

This report follows the 2021 Best in KLAS Rankings, where Epic Systems was awarded the top overall software suite for the 11th straight year. Overall, Epic earned 11 awards, including the top overall physician practice vendor.