In 2016, Epic and Cerner led the EHR market space for acute care hospitals in the United States, with Meditech following close behind, according to the new KLAS US Hospital EMR Market Share 2017.

The data in this study is based on acute care EMR purchasing activity that occurred in the United States from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016.

Here are eight things to know:

1. Epic held 25.8 percent of the U.S. acute care hospital market share, with Cerner (24.6 percent) and Meditech (16.6 percent) coming in a close second and third.

2. All other EHR vendors held 10 percent or less of the market share.

3. Thirteen of 23 contracts for integrated delivery networks (multi-hospital organizations) went to Epic.

4. Small community hospitals — with less than 200 beds — drove EHR purchasing decisions in 2016, accounting for 80 percent of all hospital EHR decisions in the country.

5. The increase in EHR adoption by small hospitals was fueled by the community-specific platforms from Cerner and Epic; acquisition and EHR-standardization activity of larger organizations; as well as an increased interest in athenahealth's new offering.

6. However, customers did complain about the lack of customization capabilities in both Epic and Cerner platforms.

7. While Cerner proved to be the most popular vendor among small hospitals in 2016, athenahealth grew the most.

8. The number of hospitals that contracted with athenahealth more than doubled in 2016, and one-third of the new hospitals included more than 25 beds.