Healthcare Insights

Top electronic medication administration record software vendors

Electronic medication administration records (eMARs) are a part of a patient’s electronic health record (EHR) that keeps track of when medications are given to the patient during a hospital stay.

The application supports the five rights of medication administration, which are to ensure that the right medicine is given to the right patient, in the right dose, via the right route (for example oral or intravenous), and at the right time. In a hospital, the medication administration process usually involves barcoding, helping the nurse verify the patient, confirm the drug, and accurately document the time it was taken.

eMAR systems are usually modules of EHRs where data can be shared or flow between computerized practitioner order entry systems (CPOEs), medical devices such as infusion pumps, automated pharmacy devices, and nursing charting systems.

Using hospital technology implementation data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, we review the top eMAR vendors installed at U.S. hospitals.

Top 6 eMAR software vendors by hospital market share

Rank Vendor name Number of installs Market share Explore dataset
Epic Systems Corporation 2,032 37.3% Explore
Oracle Cerner 1,304 23.9% Explore
MEDITECH 885 16.2% Explore
Evident a CPSI Company 456 8.4% Explore
MEDHOST 267 4.9% Explore
Altera Digital Health a Harris Company 256 4.7% Explore

Fig. 1 - Data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product. Hospital technology is proprietary and updated on a continuous basis. Accessed November 2022.

What are the most popular eMAR systems?

Epic Systems Corporation, which is one of the most common EHR vendors, takes the top place for hospital eMAR systems with a market share of 37.3%. Next are Oracle Cerner with a market share of nearly one-quarter of installations and MEDITECH with 16.2% market share among hospitals.

How many hospitals use an eMAR system?

HospitalView tracks an installed eMAR software vendor for about 5,400 U.S. hospitals, which is approximately three-quarters of all U.S. hospitals.

What are the benefits of using an electronic medication administration record?

By accurately recording the time, amount, and specific type of medication a nurse administers to a patient, eMAR systems can help reduce medical errors and drug interactions, control drug inventory costs, and more accurately bill for drugs.

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