Report: Spending on Health IT Most Significant Industry Trend

Three federal government policies will make investments in health IT the most significant issue in the health care industry next year, according to a report by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, CQ HealthBeat reports (Adams, CQ HealthBeat, 12/20).The report — titled “Top Health Industry Issues of 2011” — ranks issues for health care organizations and was based in part on a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 12/20).Three Drivers of Health ITAccording to the report, health care providers will implement or expand their health IT systems because of:   

• The 2009 economic stimulus package, which offers Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments for health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records (CQ HealthBeat, 12/20);
• A changeover to the ICD-10 medical coding system, which adds five times as many diagnosis and inpatient codes compared with the current system, as well as new HIPAA 5010 transaction standards; and
• Expected FDA regulations on how to report adverse events caused by medical devices, which could include a new electronic tracking portal (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 12/20).

Other Key FindingsIn addition, the report recommends that health care organizations should engage patients in the growing mobile health market. 

According to the report, patients are three-and-a-half times more likely to seek medical information through the media and third-party sources than any other sources (HealthLeaders Media, 12/20). Just 11% of consumers said they search a pharmaceutical company site for health information, the report found. 

In addition, the report found that: 

• 86% of consumers do not access their medical information electronically (Healthcare IT News, 12/20);
• An increase in health IT spending could lead to more mergers and acquisitions; and
• Health care providers spent more than $88.6 billion in 2010 to implement EHR systems and other health IT projects (CQ HealthBeat, 12/20).

Source: iHealthBeat 

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