Do You Outsource HIT?

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

According to Black Book announcement, the majority of providers say they plan to make outsourcing HIT a priority in the coming year.

Seventy-three percent of hospitals with more than 300 beds and 81 percent of those with less than 300 beds recently told Black Book Market Research they will prioritize the IT outsourcing in 2016. According to Fierce Health IT, the survey included 1,030 hospital CIOs and IT leaders, as well as CFOs and financial executives.

“Most hospital leaders see no choice but to evaluate and leverage next generation information and financial systems as an outsourced service in order to keep their organizations solvent and advancing technologically,” said Doug Brown, Managing Partner of Black Book Market Research in an announcement. “The reimbursement and population health challenges ahead to get paid may require several new applications, and the frank reality is that outdated, understaffed and failing current solutions will close marginally performing hospitals for good.”

Nearly 70 percent of CIOs were in support of outsourcing for mobile solutions. Many are turning to EHRs for Big Data support as well as predictive analytics and claims management.

“Population health, analytics, revenue cycle management, EHR, and HIE initiatives have accelerated IT expenses again, much faster than anticipated as have market conditions and changes in hospital revenue that are severely strained margins,” said Brown. “This pressure on bottom lines has again raised IT outsourcing as a panacea for cost control, but it is also a way to access needed software solutions and expertise in running these applications.

“Hospitals, from the board down are examining the costs and benefits and owning the responsibility to make sure hospital staff and outsourced services mesh well.”