Clinical applications continue to be U.S. hospitals' #1 IT investment priority. This continuing a trend that began about seven years ago.
Hospital executives understand that to survive and prosper in the future they must move from paper medical records to EMRs and therefore are willing to make multi-million-dollar investments in clinical tools. However, clinical systems require extensive IT infrastructure, particularly mobile/wireless, security, servers, storage, data networks and integration. So, who are the key beneficiaries (vendors) of the clinical application (EMR) movement?
Many healthcare executives are establishing strong relationships with vendors to ensure that they are offered the best solutions? Most hospitals (79%) expected their IT budgets will increase in 2008, while only 10% said IT budgets likely would be reduced.
Does this cripple their efforts to improve medical care and their contribution to the reduction medical errors?
