Healthcare and medical ERP: major products and players

When a vendor says they supply ERP software systems to the healthcare industry, it is difficult to decipher precisely what they are offering.

Is it a one-size-fits-all system for healthcare, medical device, pharmaceuticals and life science industries? Or does the healthcare ERP offered cater for a specific subset of these industries?

Here, we take a look at some of the top healthcare ERP products and vendors, to help you figure out what sort of system would be the right fit for your company. 

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1. SYSPRO

SYSPRO provides healthcare ERP for the medical devices and pharmaceuticals industry, with individual ERP systems targeted at each industry.

SYSPRO’s ERP for medical device manufacturing companies encourages collaboration with doctors and enables tracking of materials through the supply chain. The ERP software is also built to meet quality and safety standards expected of this market.

2. McKesson

McKesson offers a hospital-focused ERP targeted at improving operational efficiency to improve patient care decision-making, improve diagnostics and safety.

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Users can benefit from a range of features which streamline operations - including inventory cycle counting, managerial dashboards and self-service HR functions for both managers and employees. Reviews frequetly mention its ease of use as a major plus point. 

3. QAD

QAD provide ERP for the life sciences industry with its software offerings aimed at life science laboratories, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. For the life sciences industry specifically, a standard installed system is available as well as a hosted, on-demand system.

Reviews praise its extensive feature set - QAD offers supply chain management, warehousing, financials, manufacturing automation, production scheduling and more - as well as its longevity as a system. 

4. Epicor

Epicor provides its Tropos ERP system to the pharmaceuticals and biotech industries. The ERP system is focussed on improving quality control and adhering to regulatory authority controls which are crucial for both industries.

The system is highly scalable, and emphasizes flexibility as a major advantage. This is evident through its ease of customization and integration with other business applications, and through its functionality for multi-site, multi-currency and multi-language support. 

5. Infor

Infor's Cloudsuite for Healthcare is a comprehensive set of business solutions specifically designed for the healthcare industry. It offers financial and supply chain management, as well as core HR functions for talent management, scheduling and predictive analytics. There is a strong emphasis on interoperability.

This guide, is by no means a comprehensive run-through of all the ERP products available for the healthcare industry - many of the biggest ERP vendors, including Oracle, SAP and Microsoft also offer Healthcare ERP as part of their extensive product catalogue. But, hopefully it will give you an introduction to some of the major products available and kickstart your selection shortlist.