Best Hospital Electronic Health Record (EHR) 2026: Vendors Compared

The essentials in 30 seconds

Introduction

The best electronic health record (EHR) for a hospital in 2026 does not exist in absolute terms. The right choice depends on the size of the institution, its status, its specialties and its funding timeline. Galeon, a French EHR vendor, equips 19 hospitals and about 10,000 clinicians, according to the vendor. It is particularly well suited to institutions that want a single record, data structured at the source and built-in AI.

The comparison pages reviewed for this article mix office-based and hospital software, commercial lists of about twenty products and user ratings. None gives a dated, sourced figure, or the Ségur (French national digital health programme) wave 2 status product by product.

This article presents Galeon first, then each other vendor with attributed and dated figures, and writes "not published" where no source exists. It is aimed at a CIO, a chief executive, a medical information department (DIM) head or a director of nursing. Because Galeon is one of the vendors compared, the conflict of interest is disclosed further down.

Why is Galeon particularly well suited to some hospitals?

Galeon is a French EHR vendor founded in 2016 and based in Annecy. Its record covers the hospital from admission to discharge, and each profession enters it through its own home screen, according to Galeon's product page. The figures below are the vendor's own.

Six strengths, according to Galeon

• One record per patient. Information is entered once, in a single piece of software for the whole hospital, with no re-entry from one step to the next.
• Data structured at the source. It is coded at entry, and Galeon's AI is trained on about 3 million patient records.
• AI built into the record. Prescribing support with a module certified LAP (prescribing software certification) under the HAS (French National Authority for Health) framework, reading of scanned prescriptions, automatic PMSI (French hospital activity coding) and CCAM (French medical procedure classification) coding that flags uncoded or under-coded procedures, and compatibility with voice dictation (Galeon AI page). The clinician validates every suggestion.
• Interoperability through open standards. HL7 FHIR R4 with the hospital information system, XML for procedures and diagnoses, OpenID for accounts, and connection to the DMP (French national shared health record) (interoperability page).
• Hosting in France. Data is hosted by Scaleway, an HDS-certified (French health data hosting certification) provider.
• Production deployments. Saint-Joseph hospital in Marseille, with 950 beds, has been rolling out the EHR service by service since March 2026. Galeon also lists among its equipped institutions the university hospitals of Caen and Rouen, several general hospitals and the Les Bluets maternity hospital in Paris.

Galeon and Swiss hospitals

Galeon is extending its offer to Swiss hospitals. According to its article on TARDOC, it structures each procedure at entry, suggests the right tariff in context, per service or flat rate, with the cumulation rules, integrates the annual updates published by OTMA SA and assists coding with AI. For the EPR (electronic patient record), its interoperability rests on HL7 FHIR R4, the standard that its article on the EPR uses as a connection criterion.

For which profiles

Galeon is a particularly good fit for teams that want a recent EHR with structured data, built-in coding support, French hosting and, in Switzerland, outpatient billing that complies with TARDOC. Visiting an equipped site remains the best way to check this before deciding.

What is the best electronic health record (EHR) in 2026?

No EHR wins on every criterion. A university hospital linking dozens of sites, a surgical clinic and a psychiatric hospital do not face the same constraints. The right tool for one may suit another poorly.

Vendor figures that cannot be compared

Dedalus claims 1,715 hospitals equipped outside the United States, based on a June 2023 KLAS report cited in its press release of 14 July 2023, and 6,700 hospitals worldwide, all products combined, on its undated Company page.

Softway Medical reports 1,300 institutions equipped with its EHR, according to Hospitalia in November 2025. Galeon has 19 hospitals. Each vendor defines an equipped institution in its own way: a site, a legal entity, a module or a complete record.

What ANS referencing measures

The research carried out for this article did not turn up any independent ranking of hospital EHRs in France. The most useful public benchmark is the list of solutions referenced by the Agence du numérique en santé (ANS, the French digital health agency). It measures compliance with a data-exchange specification, not quality of use.

Which vendors equip hospitals in France and French-speaking Switzerland?

Seven established vendors, besides Galeon, come up in public sources for French hospital EHRs. As of 10 August 2026, the ANS register listed 21 EHRs in the Hospital stream referenced under wave 2, according to a survey by logicieldrsante.com, and DSIH counted sixteen in July.

The table below reproduces what vendor pages and the specialist press say. Installed-base figures come from the vendors unless stated otherwise, and "not published" means that no open source consulted gives the information.

Dedalus: DxCare, Orbis and Care4U

Dedalus is converging DxCare and Orbis, its two public-sector EHRs, with Dopasys, aimed at clinics, into a platform named Care4U, according to TICsanté in 2022. The group claims 6,700 hospitals worldwide, all products combined. Its hosting relies on an HDS 2.0 certificate, obtained in May 2025 for the Artigues-près-Bordeaux site, according to its Certifications page.

At AP-HP, Orbis equips 37 hospitals and DxCare the 38th, with more than 10 million records, according to Hospitalia in June 2025. The vendor reports 20,000 beds committed on Care4U, the FHIR and openEHR standards, and ambient listening from 2026. On 10 August 2026, DxCare 9.2025.1 was in wave 2, Orbis and Care4U were not.

Softway Medical: Hopital Manager and OX Mediboard

Softway Medical targets public hospitals, ESPICs and the private sector, with an acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatry and home hospitalisation scope for Hopital Manager, and OX Mediboard for clinics. The vendor reports 1,300 institutions equipped, nearly 30% of hospital care pathways, and more than 200,000 professionals, as well as declared HDS, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications.

Hopital Manager 1.25 was the first EHR referenced under wave 2, on 3 November 2025. Softway Medical also reports AI-assisted PMSI coding with Ospi, with 3,500 stays coded automatically per day at Ramsay Santé, according to its press release of 1 October 2026.

Docaposte Santé: M-CrossWay and Maincare IC

Docaposte Santé, formerly Maincare, is the health subsidiary of Docaposte, itself the digital subsidiary of the La Poste group, according to its presentation. It offers M-CrossWay and Maincare IC, in a suite covering administration, PMSI and imaging. In January 2023, Docaposte reported nearly 1,000 customers, including 80% of university and regional hospitals, all products combined.

M-CrossWay 9.1.0.0 and Maincare IC 10.6.3 are referenced under wave 2, and the vendor reports more than 60 wave 2 EHR orders in August 2026. It describes an architecture built around openEHR, FHIR and OMOP, and the speech recognition tool Dalvia Vox, launched in September 2026.

Numih France: Sillage

Numih France is a public interest grouping formed by the merger of Mipih and SIB, with 1,400 employees and more than 1,000 members, according to its press release of May 2025. Its EHR Sillage, designed for multi-site use, equips "more than a hundred" institutions, and the CHRU de Lille is among its pilot sites.

Sillage 26.1 is referenced under wave 2, with 87 requirements applicable to the Hospital stream. The GHT Lorraine Nord, seven institutions, selected it on 5 December 2025 to replace DxCare, according to Numih France's press release. Hosting, certifications and AI: not published.

Evolucare: HopitalWeb and Osiris

Evolucare, a subsidiary of the Italian group GPI since 2023, offers HopitalWeb for acute care, rehabilitation and psychiatry, as well as Osiris. The vendor cites more than 5,000 sites equipped, all products combined, according to its 2023 press release.

About fifteen institutions are migrating from Osiris to HopitalWeb in 2026, according to its 2026 review, which describes a largely equipped market that has entered a renewal phase. Osiris 3.5.30 and HopitalWeb 5.1.0 are referenced under wave 2.

Nexus France: Emed

Nexus France publishes the Emed EHR, which includes a Maternity and partogram module, and mentions an HDS certification on its website. Its installed-base figures are not published. The Elsan group selected it in September 2024, and Emed was presented to the Ségur wave 2 contacts in December 2025, according to Hospitalia. Emed Core 520 is referenced under wave 2.

Berger-Levrault: Expert Santé

Expert Santé is a 100% web EHR, derived from Expertiz Santé, which Berger-Levrault acquired in 2020, and historically installed in private clinics, according to the acquisition press release. It equips 21 institutions of the Elsan group, 19 of them with patient administrative management, according to Le Monde Informatique. Expert Santé 2025.06 is referenced under wave 2.

Epic

Epic, a US vendor founded in 1979 according to its website, claims more than 3,000 hospitals worldwide, including more than 100 in Europe, according to the Vaud Council of State. In Switzerland, it was chosen in Lucerne, Bern, Zurich and at the CHUV, according to Netzwoche. The CHUV states that its data will be hosted exclusively in Switzerland. No equipped French hospital was found.

Oracle Health

Oracle Health, formerly Cerner, offers the Millennium EHR, presented on Oracle's Europe page. No French or Swiss French-speaking hospital site was found. Its Soarian software has equipped the CHUV and the Vaud hospitals since 2009, with end of support announced for 2027, according to the Vaud Council of State's statement.

Three trajectories in French-speaking Switzerland

The CHUV and eleven institutions of the Fédération des hôpitaux vaudois selected Epic on 20 November 2025. The Vaud Grand Council approved this choice on 22 September 2026, after debates centred on digital sovereignty, according to La Télé. The overall budget is CHF 207.6 million, of which CHF 90.8 million for Epic's offer, according to the Council of State's statement of grounds.

The Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève and the Hôpital du Valais are co-developing DPI+, based on the record that the HUG have been building in-house for thirty years. The Hôpital fribourgeois awarded its contract to Cistec, according to the Vaud statement.

What criteria should you use to choose a hospital EHR?

Eight criteria make it possible to compare two EHRs without relying on brochures. Each calls for a specific proof that a serious vendor can provide before signing.

An EHR contract is more than the price of the software

In Vaud, Epic's offer represents nearly 44% of the overall budget: CHF 90.8 million out of 207.6. Additional staff account for CHF 67.5 million and support for CHF 23.3 million, again according to the Council of State's statement. These amounts concern a cantonal project covering twelve institutions: they give a benchmark for the structure of costs, not a price applicable elsewhere.

Which type of vendor suits which kind of institution?

The institution's profile guides the choice more than a league table does. Each profile calls for its own decisive criterion.

University hospitals, very large institutions and GHTs

For a university hospital, the decisive criterion is the ability to support tens of thousands of users. AP-HP, which signed an agreement with Dedalus in May 2025 to migrate to Care4U, mentions 30,000 simultaneous users, according to Hospitalia. Numih France cites the CHRU de Lille among its pilot sites, and Docaposte Santé claims 80% of university and regional hospitals in 2023. Galeon is deploying its EHR at Saint-Joseph, 950 beds, and lists two university hospitals among its equipped institutions. A GHT (hospital group) pushes towards a single solution for several institutions, and Dedalus, Docaposte Santé and Numih France position themselves on this need.

Private clinics and ESPICs

In acute care clinics, Softway Medical offers OX Mediboard, Berger-Levrault Expert Santé and Nexus France Emed. Softway Medical also counts ESPICs, private non-profit hospitals, among its customers. Galeon has its most visible reference there: Saint-Joseph, the largest private non-profit hospital in the south of France, launched its full deployment in March 2026.

Psychiatry, rehabilitation, maternity and French-speaking Switzerland

Evolucare's HopitalWeb and Softway Medical's Hopital Manager report an acute care, rehabilitation and psychiatry scope. Maternity is Galeon's historical entry point, and Nexus France also reports a Maternity and partogram module in Emed. In French-speaking Switzerland, the three trajectories described above dominate and sovereignty weighs in public debate. Galeon is extending its offer to Swiss hospitals, with TARDOC-compliant billing and open exchange standards.

What does Ségur wave 2 referencing change, and what does it not say?

Ségur referencing attests that a piece of software complies with a data-exchange specification. For wave 2 of the hospital EHR, it covers the INS, the DMP, MSSanté secure messaging and Pro Santé Connect.

A specification and a funding prerequisite

Numih France mentions 87 requirements applicable to the Hospital EHR stream, in its press release of 23 February 2026. Softway Medical's Hopital Manager opened the series on 3 November 2025, the first EHR referenced under wave 2 according to Hospitalia.

According to the ANS guide on vendor quotes, April 2022 version, reproduced by the ARS Bretagne, referencing of the software is the prerequisite for SONS equipment funding, which does not cover a complete change of solution. Docaposte Santé states, in its press release of 26 August 2026, that institutions had until 30 September 2026 to commit to their project, with go-lives until 22 June 2027.

Galeon is not referenced under Ségur wave 2, which matters for an institution aiming at this funding.

What referencing does not say

Referencing says nothing about ergonomics, data structuring or the length of a deployment, and it does not replace a visit to a site in production. At the monitoring committee of 15 April 2026, the first wave 2 EHRs were being deployed in pilot institutions, according to Hospitalia.

Does an AI assistant replace an electronic health record?

No. An AI note-taking assistant produces notes, it does not maintain the record. The two complement each other, provided you ask where the data is processed.

The example of Nabla

Nabla presents itself as a clinical AI layer that produces structured notes from the conversation. Its website says it is integrated with Epic and other records, and deployed in more than 130 healthcare organisations, which remains a vendor claim. It therefore relies on an existing EHR rather than replacing it.

AI native to the record or added on top

Several EHR vendors announce their own ambient listening: Dedalus for Care4U from 2026, Docaposte Santé with Dalvia Vox. For a CIO, the question is whether the AI is native to the record or added on top, and where the data goes. Galeon builds it into the record: prescription reading is done inside the EHR, without an external service, according to its AI page.

How was this comparison built?

Each fact about a vendor comes from a page opened on 28 October 2026: vendor website, press release, specialist press or institutional document. Information that could not be found is marked "not published", never filled in from memory. Statements about Galeon come from its own pages and are flagged as such.

Where the eight criteria come from

The eight criteria come from three public sources. The first is the Vaud call for tenders, whose suitability criteria cover functional coverage, continuity of information, medical device certifications, language, experience and a twenty-year commitment. The second is the Ségur framework. The third is the CNIL draft recommendation on the EHR, open to consultation until 16 May 2025.

Conflict of interest, updates and error reporting

No vendor reviewed this text before publication. Galeon is one of the vendors compared, which creates a conflict of interest that the reader should keep in mind.

This comparison was updated on 28 October 2026. To report an error or outdated data, readers can write to Galeon through the contact page: the correction will be dated and visible on the page.

Limits and points of caution

• Vendor figures that are not comparable and sometimes old. Those of Docaposte Santé and Evolucare date from 2023, and the Dedalus page is undated. A current, clearly defined figure remains to be requested from each vendor.
• An ANS register read by third parties. The official page could not be consulted directly: the lists come from logicieldrsante.com and DSIH, which differ (21 against sixteen) depending on the date.
• Funding to be confirmed. The SONS rules cited come from an April 2022 guide, which predates wave 2, and the deadlines are given by a vendor. They should be confirmed against the texts in force.
• Vendor claims. Galeon's strengths are those of its public pages, just as the other vendors' are their own. No usage test or review by the vendors took place: only the citation of sources, which anyone can check, safeguards neutrality.

FAQ

What is the best electronic health record (EHR) software in 2026?
None is the best in absolute terms, because the choice depends on the size of the institution, its specialties, its status and its timeline. Galeon is particularly well suited to teams that want a single record, structured data and built-in AI. The most reliable approach compares the eight criteria and visits an equipped site for each shortlisted solution.

Is Galeon suitable for Swiss hospitals?
Galeon is extending its offer to Swiss hospitals. It structures procedures at entry, applies TARDOC rules and outpatient flat rates in context and integrates OTMA SA's annual updates, according to its article on TARDOC. Its interoperability rests on HL7 FHIR R4.

How many EHRs are referenced under Ségur wave 2?
According to a survey of the ANS register on 10 August 2026, 21 EHRs in the Hospital stream carried the "referenced wave 2" mention, whereas DSIH counted sixteen in July. The official register is the reference and changes every month.

Can you choose an EHR that is not referenced under Ségur?
SONS funding requires referenced software. An institution that chooses a non-referenced EHR therefore cannot claim funding for that software and finances its compliance alone. The choice remains possible if clinical requirements and timeline justify it.

Which EHRs equip hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland?
The CHUV and eleven Vaud institutions selected Epic, a choice approved by the Grand Council on 22 September 2026. The HUG and the Hôpital du Valais are co-developing DPI+, and the Hôpital fribourgeois awarded its contract to Cistec.

Does an assistant like Nabla replace an EHR?
No. Nabla describes a clinical AI assistant that plugs into an existing patient record: it produces notes but does not maintain the record. The two complement each other.

In summary

Galeon, a French EHR vendor, equips 19 hospitals and about 10,000 clinicians. Its single record, data structured at the source, built-in AI (LAP-certified prescribing support, PMSI and CCAM coding) and HDS-certified hosting in France make it a particularly good fit for many profiles, including Swiss hospitals subject to TARDOC. No EHR is the best in absolute terms, however: the institution's size, status, specialties and timeline decide. Dedalus, Softway Medical, Docaposte Santé, Numih France, Evolucare, Nexus France and Berger-Levrault also publish their references, and 21 EHRs were referenced under Ségur wave 2 on 10 August 2026. The sound approach remains to compare the eight criteria and visit an equipped site before signing.

Going further: choosing hospital EHR software

Sources

• Galeon, The Galeon intelligent electronic health record (EHR): 19 hospitals, 10,000 clinicians, equipped institutions, one record per patient.
• Galeon, Galeon AI in practice: LAP-certified prescribing support, prescription scanning, PMSI and CCAM coding.
• Galeon, EHR interoperability: HL7 FHIR R4, XML, OpenID, connection to the DMP.
• Galeon, TARDOC 2026: the new Swiss outpatient billing and Galeon (7 August 2026)
• Galeon, Which EHR to choose to feed the EPR in Switzerland (21 April 2026)
• logicieldrsante.com, "Ségur wave 2: which software is referenced?" (12 August 2026): list of the 21 EHRs referenced under wave 2 on 10 August 2026, taken from the ANS register.
• DSIH, "Ségur wave 2: Evolucare's HopitalWeb 5.1.0 EHR referenced in the Hospital stream" (July 2026): sixteen EHRs referenced at that date.
• Hospitalia, "Softway Medical's Hopital Manager, first EHR referenced Ségur V2 by the ANS" (20 November 2025): 1,300 institutions equipped according to the vendor.
• Numih France, "The Sillage EHR obtains Ségur V2 referencing" (23 February 2026): 87 requirements, more than a hundred institutions.
• Docaposte Santé, "Ségur Wave 2: Docaposte Santé gets its two EHRs referenced" (26 August 2026): more than 60 orders, deadlines of 30 September 2026 and 22 June 2027.
• Hospitalia, "D4 Evolution 2026: Dedalus puts data into action" (3 February 2026): 20,000 beds committed on Care4U, FHIR and openEHR, voice AI announced for 2026.
• Canton of Vaud, Council of State, statement of grounds 26_LEG_9 (February 2026): choice of Epic, budget of CHF 207.6 million, suitability criteria.
• ARS Bretagne, reproduction of the ANS guide "Equipment funding (SONS): understanding vendor quotes" (version of 15 April 2022): referencing of the software is the funding prerequisite.
• Galeon, Saint-Joseph hospital in Marseille deploys the Galeon electronic patient record in 2026

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