The company, which is based in Livingston, West Lothian and specialises in billing, auditing and management software for US hospitals, signed a five-year contract with Intermountain Healthcare, which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

No value was put on the deal.

Craneware said Intermountain, which has 23 hospitals, had signed up for a number of its products, including the core Chargemaster Toolkit package.

The company’s biggest selling Chargemaster Toolkit, which is designed to reduce mischarging in the outpatient market, is now used in more than 1000 hospitals and healthcare centres across the US, where medical bills are fiendishly complicated.

Analysts at KBC Peel Hunt also said: “This business win displaces a major competitor and helps underwrite our 2011 forecasts.

“We remain buyers in anticipation of a strong second half to fiscal 2010.”

Shares in Craneware, which did not name the displaced competitor, yesterday climbed 2.6%, or 8.5p, to 336p.

Keith Neilson, Craneware chief executive, said: “This significant contract win in a competitive situation is a powerful endorsement of Craneware’s products and competitive positioning.

“Our sales momentum continues as we approach the end of the first half of our financial year.”

Healthcare reform is the hottest topic on the US political scene.

The proposed legislation, embodying US President Barack Obama’s signature domestic initiative but still in bill form, is likely to impose new regulations on insurers, and extend coverage to 31 million people who currently do not have any.