Electronic Health Record Market Poised For Huge Growth

According to researchers, the U.S. electronic health records (EHR) is expected to grow to $31.9 billion in 2015 from $15.8 billion in 2010. The market grew 10.5% in 2009 and 13.6% in 2010 and is expected to grow even faster in the coming years – 18.3% in 2011 and 20.1% in 2012 according to researchers. Growth is expected to slow down in subsequent years to 15.9% in 2013, 11.2% in 2014 and 10.5% in 2015. In this post, we cover Epocrates’s entry into the EHR market, as well as take stock of WebMD’s recent performance.

WebMD’s Financials
WebMD’s (NASDAQ:WBMD) Q2 revenues grew 15% over the year to $141.4 million. The market was looking for revenues of $141.2 million for the quarter. Advertising and sponsorships on their public website increased 20% to $121.1 million. Traffic grew 30% to an average of 104.8 million unique visitors per month. Revenues from customized health websites fell 8% over the year to $20.3 million. EPS for the quarter grew to $0.22 compared with $0.18 a year ago, but fell short of the market’s expectations of $0.23.

WebMD’s Mobile Initiatives
Their mobile initiatives are generating good traffic. WebMD Mobile for consumers generated 6.5 million downloads since launch and is now available on the iPhone, iPad, and Android-based devices. Medscape Mobile for healthcare professionals has also surpassed 1.4 million registered users and is available on the iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry devices.

WebMD’s Consumer Engagement
WebMD has been focusing on driving consumer engagement on their websites. Recently, they launched WebMD Healthy Beauty, a new lifestyle channel. Healthy Beauty delivers a visual experience for users and grants access to relevant content, tools and community resources to support a healthy and vibrant lifestyle.

The stock is trading at $33.05 with a market capitalization of $1.94 billion. It touched a 52-week high of $58.55 in May 2011.

Epocrates’s Financials
Epocrates’s (NASDAQ:EPOC) revenues grew 10% over the year to $25.3 million. They now claim to have a network of over 1.3 million users including 328,000 U.S.-based physicians. EPS for the quarter of $0.13 grew significantly compared with the net loss of $0.02 per share last year.

For the year, Epocrates projects revenues to grow 11%-15% over the year to $115 million-$120 million with an EPS of $0.01-$0.10.

Epocrates’s EHR Offering
Recently Epocrates announced the first phase of availability for the Epocrates EHR mobile and web-based electronic health record (EHR). As part of this deployment, the company will introduce core functionalities needed by primary care practices which employ 10 or fewer physicians. The tool includes an intuitive user interface, affordable cost structure, and comprehensive support and service program. The secure, Web-based SaaS system features capabilities such as including patient encounter notes, electronic lab integration, ePrescribing, and their market-leading drug content. As part of their mobile initiatives, they will also offer a license to the iPhone app that will be able to support remote patient record look-up and ePrescribing capabilities.

The stock is trading at $9.82 with a market capitalization of $231.06 million. It reached a high of $30.24 in February 2010.