Health Data Management's CIO Survey Reveals Factors Driving I.T. Spending

张琨

Health Data Management's CIO Survey Reveals Factors Driving I.T. Spending

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 22, 2007 -- Health care CIOs and other senior executives plan to sink more money into applications that improve access to information for clinicians and help reduce medical errors, according to the 2007 Health Data Management CIO Survey. Of those respondents who expect their I.T. budgets to increase in fiscal 2007, 51% said the primary factor for those budget increases is to improve clinician access to information. Another 27% cited reducing medical errors/improving quality as the primary factor for spending hikes.

"It is gratifying to know that the need to provide automation to clinicians is still a top agenda item. This stuff is hard to do, very expensive, and the projects run months if not years. And it's very easy to get distracted or to divert funds to other capital requirements," says Becky Quammen, founder and president of The Quammen Group, the Winter Park, Fla.-based health care information technology consulting firm that sponsored the survey.

The magazine's annual survey, which generated 150 responses, was conducted via e-mail in January. Complete results will be available on Health Data Management's award-winning Web site www.healthdatamanagement.com in early March. The March cover story of the magazine, which focuses on issues of importance to CIOs, will include a summary of the survey.

Other survey highlights include:

--  The top priority software investment is electronic medical records.
--  The top priority hardware investment is laptops/tablets/PDAs.
--  The biggest challenge when implementing new information technology is
    gaining buy-in of nurses and physicians, closely followed by systems
    integration.