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What is an EHR, and who buys EHR-related software?

Also called: EHR / EMR Integration Buyer, EMR, electronic medical record

An electronic health record (EHR) is the digital system a hospital or practice uses for patient charts, orders, documentation and billing. Products that integrate with the EHR are usually evaluated by IT, clinical informatics and the departments that use them.

By John Britton, VP of Marketing, MedicalProspects · Updated November 4, 2026 · Buyers & Committees

Why it matters for healthcare sales and marketing

The EHR sits at the center of hospital and practice operations. Many health IT products succeed or fail on how well they work with it, and knowing which EHR an account runs is one of the most useful pieces of technographic data.

How it works

  • EHR vs EMR: the terms are often used interchangeably; EHR usually implies records shared across organizations, EMR a single practice's chart.
  • Who owns it: the CIO and IT run the platform; the CMIO and clinical informatics shape clinical use.
  • Who evaluates add-ons: IT for integration and security, informatics for workflow, and the department that will use the product.
  • Integration: increasingly through standard FHIR APIs.
The EHR at the center, with the CIO and IT, the CMIO and clinical informatics, and departments as the groups who evaluate integrated products.
Products that integrate with the EHR are evaluated by IT, informatics and the departments that use them.

Example

Illustrative scenario. A documentation tool vendor targets hospitals running a specific EHR it integrates with, reaching CMIOs, clinical informatics specialists and department chairs, with a message about time saved inside the existing workflow.

Common mistakes

  • Ignoring which EHR an account runs. It often decides fit.
  • Selling only to IT. Clinical informatics and users shape adoption.
  • Underestimating EHR change cycles. Replacing an EHR is rare and slow.

Related terms

  • FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources)FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the HL7 standard for exchanging healthcare data through web APIs. It defines common building blocks, called resources, such as Patient, Practitioner and Observation, so different systems can share data.
  • Technographic DataTechnographic data describes the technology an organization uses, such as a hospital's EHR, imaging, revenue cycle and ERP systems. Healthcare sales teams use it to find accounts that run a competitor's product or a platform their own product works with.
  • Hospital C-SuiteThe hospital C-suite is the senior executive team of a hospital or health system, typically the CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, chief medical officer (CMO) and chief nursing officer (CNO), who approve major budgets and strategy.
  • Practice Management Software (PMS)Practice management software (PMS) runs the business side of a medical or dental practice: scheduling, patient registration, insurance eligibility, billing and reporting. It is often bought together with, or as part of, an EHR.
  • Virtual Care LeaderA virtual care leader is the executive or director who runs a health system's telehealth and digital care programs, such as video visits, remote patient monitoring and virtual nursing, often with a title like VP of virtual care or director of telehealth.

Put it to work

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