Written by Frank Fortner, President and COO of Iatric Systems
It’s already February, 2016, and the HIMSS conference is just around the corner. If you plan on attending, it’s highly likely that you’re a senior healthcare IT leader, which means congratulations are in order! You have a vital and rewarding job, but also an incredibly difficult one, which lately, seems to be getting harder by the day. Having successfully moved past the core EHR implementation, today you hold ultimate responsibility for the enterprise healthcare IT systems that must simultaneously improve the quality of care, improve the health of your patient population, reduce the cost of care, support the transition to value-based reimbursement, let doctors be doctors, and comply with Meaningful Use and various clinical quality measures along with an exhaustive, ever-changing list of federal regulations. Just in case that isn’t enough, you also need to make sure your IT systems can securely exchange data with all appropriate stakeholders — no data blocking allowed — while at the same time, you must vigilantly protect everything and everyone from the growing number of bad guys who are hell-bent on gaining access to and exploiting your health system data for personal gain. Like I said, congratulations!
Hopefully, the good news is that none of what I just wrote is news to you, and likely, you are already taking steps to make sure your organization is both protected and getting the most out of its IT investments. I say that with some level of confidence because current trends seem to point in that direction. A recent survey by IDC Health Insights indicated that even in a “post-EHR world,” 40% of U.S. hospitals with 200 or more beds are expanding their IT budgets with 75% of those saying it’s not for the implementation of an EHR. So then where else is the money going? According to the survey, the money will be used to enhance existing investments, specifically targeted for areas such as analytics, cyber security, and patient engagement.
Additionally, in a recent Jan 25 Health Data Management article, Bob Violino spoke with Warren Whitford, a research director at KLAS, and asked him if value-based care was one of the biggest hurdles faced by hospitals today. Whitford responded affirmatively, saying, “It’s probably in the top five, along with security, cloud technology, EMR optimization, interoperability, and healthcare analytics.” Whitford’s response seems to align well with the results of the IDC survey, which together, provide a glimpse of where provider organizations will be putting their focus in 2016 and beyond. If this aligns with where you find yourself today, I have more good news...
For more than 25 years, Iatric Systems has been a trusted technology partner to more than 1,300 healthcare organizations, enhancing existing healthcare IT investments in the areas of analytics, patient privacy, interoperability, and EHR optimization. Our diverse team of experienced professionals has provided cost-effective, innovative solutions to solve some of the industry's toughest challenges, and we have the KLAS awards to prove it! So for us, in 2016, today is no different. If the focus is on optimizing existing investments, and picking up where the EHR leaves off, we’re more than ready to help in any of these key areas. Not to sound like a car insurance commercial, but…it’s what we do.
This year, if you do plan on attending the HIMSS conference in Las Vegas, I would strongly encourage you to stop by the Iatric Systems booth (#7730) and find out why so many hospitals have partnered with us to enhance their healthcare IT investments. And you can also follow us on twitter now @iatricsystems to join the conversation leading up to HIMSS using #HIMSS16. We look forward to meeting you in Vegas!
