There are companies that are trying. Athena was doing a good job in a lot of respects but then decided they wanted the hospital market and that hasn't gone well. The issue is that switching EMRs has a huge switching cost. You are looking at years just to get the sale. Then there is the time and cost to switch which can easily be 6-24 months depending on size. The biggest problem is that all the health care workers have to relearn a whole new flow and these things are not trivial. Add in that most health care workers are not as tech savvy as you would think.
Additionally, as was mentioned, the health care systems depend on the EMR for all government and compliance reporting. The EMRs also do NOT play nice together so even if you get customers, it is hard to get data out and shared with other systems. It is possible to disrupt this space but you better start with a war chest, start with a very focused niche (say Urologists) and be prepared to slog it out for a decade.
Thank you. It looks like Athena is trying to do just what I described. They even have an incubator for new health related startups[1]. Of course, it is difficult to know from the outside how well they are doing and their trajectory, but I am (foolishly?) optimistic.
The incubator program is fine but it is a little bit dependent on their cash flow. They sunk too much money into the hospital space and their free cash flow is down and so is their stock price. Johnathan Bush is a free spirit and willing to be disruptive which is their greatest strength. If I lived in Boston still, I would be working there.
Additionally, as was mentioned, the health care systems depend on the EMR for all government and compliance reporting. The EMRs also do NOT play nice together so even if you get customers, it is hard to get data out and shared with other systems. It is possible to disrupt this space but you better start with a war chest, start with a very focused niche (say Urologists) and be prepared to slog it out for a decade.