Healthcare IT Evolution in 2017

The majority of health systems are focusing on implementing health information technologies that are both cost-effective and operationally effective in an effort to expand their population health initiatives, according to survey results released last week by Royal Philips.

As the industry moves toward value-based care, hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) are seeking tools that integrate seamlessly into existing electronic medical records (EMRs) to enhance patient-centered care in their hospitals, homes and communities, while also better managing entire populations.

Conducted by HIMSS Analytics on behalf of Philips and announced at the 2017 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition, the survey of 120 healthcare IT leaders sought to determine how health leaders are prioritizing technology investments in an industry shift to value-based care.

Of the 120 respondents, 84% represent either standalone hospitals or IDNs, 55% identify as C-level executives, and 26.7% is comprised of IT directors.

"The shift to value-based care and population health management is critical to improving patient outcomes, and integrated solutions can connect care across the health continuum to provide powerful actionable insights to enable this transformation," said Carla Kriwet, Chief Business Leader, Connected Care and Health Informatics, Philips. "These survey results demonstrate the desire for fully integrated, cost-effective and operationally effective solutions."

As healthcare moves toward a value-based model, population health initiatives become increasingly important. Three-quarters of respondents already have population health programs in acute care, and nearly two-thirds of respondents in both readmissions and patient education.

Additionally, there were increases in program implementation since last year within home monitoring devices and aging well or elderly care programs as well as notable plans for future implementations, with priorities in mobile wellness monitoring devices (58.3%), home monitoring devices (45.8%), and aging well or elderly care programs (42.5%).

Key survey findings

• While care coordination remains a challenge overall in population health management efforts (19.2%), financial investment (20.8%) and patient engagement and adherence (20.0%) are considered the biggest population health challenges in 2017.
• Cloud-based technology is currently being used primarily for health information exchange (48.3%), followed by clinical data storage (34.2%).
• Health organizations plan to prioritize cloud-based technology on managed application deployment (40.8%) and big data analytics support (40.8%).
• Community diagnostic imaging centers (68%), ambulatory surgery centers (61%) and urgent care (60%) have seen the highest increases in the deployment of IT systems, compared to physician's offices in 2016.

Philips is one of the health technology companies providing an integrated suite of advanced technologies and intelligent software, solutions and services in a secure, cloud-based ecosystem, to deliver the data and analytics needed to make better informed, more efficient and effective value-based care decisions, from the hospital into home.