McKesson Corporation also followed a similar path to that of Allscripts, with M&A activity of its own, including the 2010 merger with US Oncology; the September 2012 acquisition of health IT company MedVentive; and the October 2012 acquisition of MED3OOO.

The problem with these acquisitions, according to Blumenfeld, is that it makes interoperability between a hospital's health IT system nearly impossible  -  and that's simply unfavorable from a user's perspective.

"When you get to vendors like McKesson or GE or Allscripts, the problem is that they've grown mostly by acquisition, and they have these potpourri of products and different platforms and operating systems," Blumenfeld told Healthcare IT News. "It becomes very difficult — standards or not — to carve together something that feels coherent or feels consistent."

When these systems don't integrate well with each other, the results can be alarming, he said.

"Sometimes it ends up looking like Frankenstein. The ear's a little too big, and you've got a different head and a different arm." Because many vendors struggle with effectively integrating their products, Blumenfeld added, "The vendors that have chosen that approach and have grown by acquisition are facing an uphill battle right now."

According to a July 2012 KLAS report on clinical market share, McKesson lost footing for the year, together with Allscripts, MEDITECH and Siemens.

Moreover, a 2012 Medscape report asking physicians to rank the top EHRs revealed that more than one-fifth (22 percent) of physicians bestowed Epic with the top-ranking honor. By contrast, 10 percent of physicians favored Cerner, with Allscripts following close behind at 9 percent.

All that said, M&A acquisition is a part of nature for the business world, and simply because companies merge and acquire does not necessarily portend failure, of course. The stock value of publically traded companies such as McKesson and Cerner has been on the upward trend since 2009. (Epic is privately held.)

The meaningful use incentives established by the HITECH Act have certainly helped boost bottom lines. With more providers looking to replace or upgrade EHR solutions to meet Stage 2 requirements, in many cases, business can't help but be booming.