I recall McKesson and Siemens trying to get into the mix as well. Cerner was the only party on the block when my previous employer started in their pursuit of an EMR.
There are quite a few of them that have been approved by the CMS (approved because they can talk to the CMS and send it information about your patients, of course). Some are cloud-bsed, which makes me uncomfortable in the extreme, while some are indwelling on your system. When Obamacare proceeds a bit further, naturally all of your medical information goes straight to the federal government, even if you are not a Medicare or Medicaid patient.
Many people do not realize this, but all of the prescription medications you’ve taken in the past fifteen years are visible to a doctor who has an E-prescribe program. That means they know what diseases you used to have. No point in lying to anybody about your preexisting health problems or in trying to doctor-shop to get more drugs. It’s right there on the screen—what you were prescribed, what the dose was, how many, how long, where, etc. I could stick YOUR name in MY office’s EMR system and learn a great deal about your medical history even before interconnected capabilities are formally mandated.
Makes me wonder if there’s a market niche for doctors who actually promise to stay off the computer, maintain your privacy, and make their own decisions about your care regardless of what the government says they should do.