The 2024 Best in KLAS report was published this week, ranking vendor performance across multiple categories based on evaluations from their own provider and payer clients.

Epic – for the 14th year in a row – took the top placement for Overall Software Suite, finishing ahead of MEDITECH and Oracle Health. The industry-dominating electronic health record vendor also won fifteen other Best in KLAS awards this year, according to the 2024 Best in KLAS Software and Services report.

However, in a change from past years, the award for Overall Physician Practice Vendor did not go to Epic in 2024 – instead going to athenahealth, which also earned Best in KLAS awards in the following segments: Ambulatory EHR: Independent (11–75 Physicians), Practice Management: Independent (11–75 physicians), and Small Practice Ambulatory EHR/PM: Independent (two-10 physicians). 

NextGen Healthcare, eClinicalWorks and Greenway Health followed athenahealth for top performance in the physician practice category.

KLAS has set out to serve healthcare providers experiencing pressures, including financial strains, staffing shortages and clinician burnout, said Adam Gale, CEO and founder of KLAS Research. 

"We want to use our passion for improving healthcare to sustain those who may feel the challenges are too great to continue, and we want to provide actionable insights that will ultimately alleviate burdens and enhance clinician success," said Gale in a statement.

KLAS researchers recognized Impact Advisors as the Overall IT Services Firm winner and as Best in KLAS for ERP Implementation Leadership and Financial Improvement Consulting categories. Optimum Healthcare IT, Pivot Point Consulting, Nordic and Tegria followed. All scored above 90 percentage points in overall IT firm satisfaction.

Evergreen Healthcare Partners snagged the top Overall Implementation Services Firm and took Best in KLAS in the HIT Advisory Services and HIT Core Clinical Implementation Leadership segments. The company was followed by Huron, Impact Advisors, ROI Healthcare Solutions, CSI Healthcare IT and others.

Back again at the top of the Overall Healthcare Management Consulting Firm for the fourth year in a row is Chartis, which KLAS also awarded top rankings in the Clinical Optimization and Digital Transformation Consulting categories. (Chartis announced this week that it has acquired payer consulting firm HealthScape Advisors.)

Guidehouse, ECG Management Consultants and Deloitte followed in the consultant rankings.

KLAS noted that what stands out most in this year's report is that many software companies have greatly improved their healthcare technology product performance.

For Most Improved Software Product, customers of Lightbeam Health Solutions reported "an 18% improvement in satisfaction since last year’s Best in KLAS report," the researchers said,

AGS Health’s Extended Business Office Services increased by 14% since last year's Best in KLAS report, which KLAS said earned the company Most Improved Services Solution.

Finally, small, independent practices (2–10 physicians) reported a noteworthy increase of 29% satisfaction with eClinicalWorks’ EHR/PM and named the Massachusetts-based vendor the Most Improved Physician Practice Product.

Each year, KLAS retires and adds segments. For this year's rankings, KLAS added capacity optimization management, interoperability; other validated software, member-engagement tools, patient-referral management and analytics, patient self-scheduling, post-acute patient analytics; point of care, revenue cycle analytics, revenue cycle; charge capture, and virtual sitting and nursing. 

For payers, KLAS added payment accuracy and integrity solutions and data analytics platforms.

Inpatient Clinical Care

340B Management Systems

Verity Solutions 

Acute Care EHR: Large (>400 Beds)

Epic 

Acute Care EHR: Midsize (151–400 Beds)

Epic 

Acute Care EHR: Small (1–150 Beds)

MEDITECH 

Automated Dispensing Cabinets

BD 

Clinical Communications: Acute Care

Epic 

Clinical Decision Support: Care Plans & Order Sets

Zynx Health

Clinical Decision Support: Point-of-Care Clinical Reference

EBSCO Information Services 

Data Archiving

Triyam

Drug Diversion Monitoring

Protenus 

Infection Control & Monitoring

VigiLanz 

Integration Engines

Rhapsody 

IV Workflow Management

Epic 

Medication Inventory Management

Epic 

Pharmacy Surveillance

VigiLanz 

Smart Pumps: EHR-Integrated

ICU Medical 

Smart Pumps: Traditional

Baxter 

Ambulatory & Post–Acute Care

Ambulatory EHR: Health System Owned

Epic

Ambulatory EHR: Independent (>75 Physicians)

Epic 

Ambulatory EHR: Independent (11–75 Physicians)

athenahealth 

Ambulatory Ophthalmology EHR

EyeMD EMR Healthcare Systems 

Ambulatory Pediatric Solutions

PCC 

Ambulatory RCM Services (EHR-Agnostic)

R1 

Ambulatory RCM Services (EHR-Associated)

CompuGroup Medical US

Ambulatory Specialty EHR

Nextech

Ambulatory Surgery Center Solutions

HST Pathways 

Behavioral Health

NextGen Healthcare 

Clinical Communications: Ambulatory/ Post–Acute Care

TigerConnect 

Homecare | Home Health: Health System Owned

Epic

Homecare | Home Health: Independent (>200 ADC)

MatrixCare

Homecare | Home Health: Independent (1–200 ADC)

MatrixCare

Homecare | Personal Care Services & Private Duty Nursing

WellSky

Hospice: Independent

MatrixCare

Long-Term Care

PointClickCare

Outpatient Therapy/Rehab

WebPT

Patient Intake Management

Yosi Health

Patient Referral Management & Analytics

Forcura

Practice Management: Health System Owned

Epic 

Practice Management: Independent (>75 Physicians)

Epic 

Practice Management: Independent (11–75 Physicians)

athenahealth 

Small Practice Ambulatory EHR/PM: Independent (2-10 Physicians)

athenahealth 

Financial/Revenue Cycle/HIM

Business Decision Support

Strata Decision Technology

Claims Management & Clearinghouse

Experian Health

Clinical Documentation Integrity

Nuance

Complex Claims Services

Revecore

Computer-Assisted Coding

Dolbey

Credentialing

ASM 

Data & Analytics Platforms

Dimensional Insight

Data Visualization & Reporting

Tableau

Debt Collection Services

State Collection Services

Enterprise Resource Planning

Workday 

Financial Planning & Analysis

Strata Decision Technology 

Healthcare Artificial Intelligence: Data Science Solutions

ClosedLoop 

Healthcare Safety, Risk & Compliance Management

Performance Health Partners 

Insurance Discovery

FinThrive 

Patient Access 

Optum 

Patient Accounting & Patient Management: Large (>400 Beds)

Epic 

Patient Accounting & Patient Management: Midsize (151–400 Beds)

Epic 

Patient Accounting & Patient Management: Small (1–150 Beds)

MEDITECH 

Patient Financial Engagement

Waystar P

Patient Financing Services

ClearBalance HealthCare

Patient Flow

TeleTracking 

Real-Time Location Systems

Sonitor

Revenue Cycle: Chargemaster Management

Health Catalyst 

Revenue Cycle: Contract Management

Experian Health 

Scheduling: Nurse & Staff

QGenda 

Scheduling: Physician

PerfectServe 

Speech Recognition: Front-End EHR

Nuance 

Time & Attendance

symplr

Value-Based Care

Customer Relationship Management

Innovaccer 

Digital Rounding

Huron 

EHR-Centric Virtual Care Platforms

Epic 

Interactive Patient Systems

pCare by Uniguest 

Patient Communications

RevSpring 

Patient-Driven Care Management

Get Well

Patient Education

Healthwise 

Patient Experience Improvement

Feedtrail 

Patient Portals

Epic

Patient Self-Scheduling

Relatient 

Population Health Management

Azara Healthcare 

Remote Patient Monitoring

Lightbeam 

Social Determinants of Health Networks

findhelp 

Video Conferencing Platforms

Doximity

Virtual Care Platforms (Non-EHR)

eVisit

Security & Privacy

Access Management

Duo 

Healthcare IoT Security

Claroty

Identity Management

SailPoint 

Patient Privacy Monitoring

Protenus 

Security & Privacy Consulting Services

tw-Security

Security & Privacy Managed Services

Fortified Health Security

Services & Consulting

Application Hosting

Tegria

Clinical Optimization

Chartis

Denials Management Services

Aspirion

Digital Transformation Consulting

Chartis

Eligibility Enrollment Services

Optum 

End-to-End Revenue Cycle Outsourcing

Ensemble Health Partners

ERP Business Transformation & Implementation Leadership 

Huron

ERP Implementation Leadership

Impact Advisors

Extended Business Office

PwC

Financial Improvement Consulting

Impact Advisors

Go-Live Support

Optimum 

Government Reimbursement Services

R1

HIT Advisory Services

Evergreen Healthcare Partners

HIT Core Clinical Implementation Leadership

Evergreen Healthcare Partners

HIT Staffing

Prominence 

Managed IT Services

Pivot Point Consulting 

Outsourced Coding

Guidehouse

Physician Advisory Services

Xsolis

Release of Information

MRO

Revenue Cycle Optimization

Guidehouse

Strategy, Growth & Consolidation Consulting

Guidehouse 

Technical Services

Pivot Point Consulting 

Transcription Services

AQuity Solutions

Underpayment Recovery Services

R1

Value-Based Care Consulting

Premier Inc 

Value-Based Care Managed Services

Arcadia (now Guidehealth)

Virtual Scribing Services

ScribeEMR

Imaging Systems

Cardiology

Merative

Cardiology Hemodynamics

Merative

Image Exchange

Nuance

Oncology: Medical

Epic

Oncology: Radiation

Elekta 

PACS: Large (>300K Studies)

Sectra

PACS: Small (≤300K Studies)

Sectra

Speech Recognition: Front-End Imaging

3M

Universal Viewer (Imaging)

AGFA HealthCare

Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA)

Fujifilm

Payer Solutions

Care Management Solutions (Payer)

MHK (formerly MedHOK)

ZeOmega

Claims & Administration Platforms (Payer)

HealthEdge

CMS Payer Interoperability

Edifecs

Data Analytics Platforms (Payers)

Clarify Health Solutions

Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Services

Marathon Health

IT Consulting Services (Payer)

Huron

Payment Accuracy & Integrity Solutions (Payer)

Zelis Healthcare 

Quality Measurement & Reporting (Payer)

Cotiviti

Risk Adjustment

Vatica Health 

 

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.