A new study suggests that an increase in healthcare provider use of cloud technology plus a decrease in the cost of IT implementation could lead to big changes in the US healthcare IT market.
According to market research consulting firm RCNOS, between now and 2018, the health IT market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of close to 10 percent. Innovation in the market and government support for health IT tools will help the market along as well, the researchers report.
Technologies likely to have this effect include EMRs, clinical decision support systems, medical imaging information systems and lab information systems. The researchers say personal health records, telemedicine and ICD-10 systems are also growth areas.
To realize this potential, however, it will take widespread cooperation across many sectors of the healthcare industry, including providers, payers, plan sponsors, the pharmas and more, writes health blogger Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.
That being said, health IT market growth is not an absolutely sure thing. According to investor and entrepreneur Anne DeGheest, who recently spoke with the Wall Street Journal, the intense activity around health IT resembles the technology bubble of the 1990s.
Whether you share Sarasohn-Kahn’s enthusiasm or DeGheest’s caution, it’s difficult to argue that this is a golden time for health IT innovation and entrepreneurship. What makes today’s health IT activity different than bubbles of previous generations is that it solves real problems, rather than creating apps in search of a problem. I’d argue that health IT’s explosive growth will run well beyond 2018.
No doubt – Healthcare IT market growth is happening and is inevitable. Innovation is actually just in its infancy. Innovation is needed at Point-of-care, where Providers are interacting with Patients AND technology. I call it the SMD factor – Slow me down – factor.
The biggest challenge for vendors has been innovating fast data capture for clinicians in the exam room. Other workflow factors are well covered.
I just saw this interesting article talking about use of Scribes if technology slows down providers (courtesy Medscape).
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/820716?src=wnl_edit_bom_weekly
Has anybody actually read any of the studies that show, in the long run, that a cloud based EHR is more expensive than an in-house server EHR?
There are very few true web based EHRs. Most that use the cloud actually have client software installed on the computer.
“To realize this potential, however, it will take widespread cooperation across many sectors of the healthcare industry…”
uhhh, yup.
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