According to the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), respondents to 19th Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey identified quality of care, cutbacks, managed care fee reductions and patient satisfaction as top business issues shaping technology investment decisions.
Key findings include:
- A focus on quality of care drives the implementation of clinical information systems, technology to reduce medical errors and an EMR. These were in a dead heat for top priorities of healthcare IT professionals, according to the 19th Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey.
- Security is a top priority: nearly 1 in 4 reported a security breach in the last year. Identity management and security technologies are top technologies that will be implemented by healthcare organizations in the next two years.
- Healthcare organizations are accelerating investments in technologies, which allow better understanding, analysis and accessibility of clinical knowledge.
According to the 300 healthcare IT professionals who participated in the survey, HIMSS says investments in EMR technology will be the top IT priority at their organization in the next two years. Also in the top three priorities, 23 percent of respondents stated they would prioritize implementing clinical information systems for the delivery of clinical knowledge to users in the next two years. 20 percent stated that implementing or upgrading data warehousing and data mining capabilities would shift from a low priority to a high priority in the same time frame.
Implementing unified communications technologies (solutions which unify voice, video, data, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks) is expected to become more of a priority for organizations in the next two years as organizations empower users to connect with each other and healthcare systems, anywhere and at any time.
