Could Epic End Up The Victim Of Its Own EMR Success?

If the Lab Soft News author has his facts right, Epic isn’t just acting like a monopolist, it actually can’t afford to let any other vendors play in its sandbox at this point. In fact, the Wisconsin giant has basically painted itself into a corner.

As part of its winning sales pitch, Epic apparently guarantees that it will singlehandedly give a hospital all of the EMR functionality it needs. Under these circumstances, letting other vendors extend its platform would never do, as any system requiring additional integration doesn’t offer the “turnkey system” feeling Epic offers.

My instinct is that this situation will backfire on Epic. I’ve always believed that software firms benefit from working closely with development partners — or even by simply allowing others to extend its functions...