Based on results of an annual study conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), hospitals are expected to spend about 3 percent of their budgets on healthcare information technology over the next couple years, with overall adoption remaining low for most hospitals.
According to Dave Garets, president and CEO of HIMSS Analytics, urban and multi-hospital systems are expected to spend the most, somewhere between $22 million and $32 billion. On the low end, rural hospitals are expected to spend around $1 billion, while academic facilities may spend as much as $5 billion.
The compounded annual growth rate for hospital healthcare IT spending is estimated at 3.86 percent from 2007-2013 and should remain relatively flat from 2008-2010, picking up in 2011, Garets said. Factors that will contribute to stalled growth of hospital HIT spending will include the increased price of plastics and the slumped economy.
The study showed that one third of hospitals in the U.S. aren't at the foundation for having electronic medical records. "This will make it difficult to achieve the [President's] goal of electronic health records for every American by 2014," Garets said.
Hospitals spent 7 percent less on healthcare IT than they had allotted for 2007, according to the study. Garets said he expects the next couple of years will show hospitals striving for increased customer service capability to include electronic pre-registration, pre-scheduling and bill paying online.
"Hospitals are going to have to make some tough decisions about where to put their money in the next 2-5 years in order to divert some (healthcare IT) money to the clinical side," Garets said.
The study, which includes information through the first quarter of this year, represents all U.S. hospitals and includes hospitals in Australia and Canada. The information used for the study was self-reported by hospital executives, Garets said.
Academic hospitals make up 20 percent of the market, with integrated delivery systems making up 70 percent, according to the study. Garets predicted this may change due to market pressures to include more critical access hospitals.
Most hospital healthcare IT spending goes toward claims and billing processing, with 16 hospitals reporting they are capable of using electronic health records with physician documentation. These most-advanced healthcare IT hospitals were also reported to be capable of clinical decision support, clinical documentation and closed-loop medication administration.
Garets said HIMSS Analytics expects that three of the top HIT hospitals may soon have what the study considers to be the highest level of healthcare IT capacity, which includes fully electronic health records. Currently no hospitals are reporting the highest level of capability, according to the report.
The survey reports that 18.9 percent of hospitals do not have HIT capacity that includes lab, radiology and pharmacy data, while 13.1 percent have one or two of those three capabilities installed.
Tell us how your hospital plans to overcome a slumping economy while still advancing healthcare IT. E-mail Senior Editor Diana Manos at diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com.