In a recent report by Healthcare IT News called “Core needs, mobility to fuel health IT spending” a new study releases findings about what types of healthcare workers are likely to increase spending in healthcare IT and in what areas. The study was CompTIA’s Second Annual Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities study.
Key objectives, as always, include:
- reducing costs
- saving time
- improving productivity
- most importantly, improving patient care
“Doctors want systems that are faster, easier to use, have better interoperability and cost less, according to the study.”
It’s no surprise that demand is increasing in Healthcare IT:
“Healthcare providers rely on core IT products to care for patients and manage their practices, with desktop and laptop PCs, printers, phone systems and networking equipment the norm at the vast majority of practices.”
But how does it impact plans on spending in the near term?
How many will increase spending?
“About half of healthcare practices will increase their IT expenditures in the next 12 months, with the rest either holding budgets flat or reducing their IT spending, the study shows.”
What groups are most likely to increase spending?
“Group practices are most likely to increase spending, while solo practices are relatively more likely to keep IT spending levels flat.”
How does mobile play into all of this?
“Roughly one in four doctors and dentists say they plan to purchase a tablet PC for their practice over the next 12 months.”
But here’s a shocking fact about texting and email usage by doctors:
“The CompTIA study reveals that relatively few doctors take advantage of email or text messaging to communicate with patients, such as reminders about upcoming appointments. But many want to move in this direction”
Does that fact surprise you? Do you know any healthcare workers who make better use of email and texts to stay in touch with patients and communicate regularly in their day-to-day functions?
