What IT Initiatives Will Be Trending In 2014?
By John Oncea, Editor
EHR Adoption & Meaningful Use has topped our survey of top health IT trends two years running – will it be three years in a row in 2014? You tell us.
By John Oncea, editor, Health IT Outcomes
Health IT Outcomes – soon to be Health IT Outcomes – is looking for next year’s top health IT trends, and we’re asking for your help. We’ve been surveying the healthcare industry for several years to determine what health IT initiatives will have the biggest impact in the coming year.
In 2012, you predicted EHR Adoption & Meaningful Use would be the biggest trend, followed by HIPAA 5010 Compliance and ICD-10 Compliance. Ken Congdon wrote at the time, “As expected, federal regulations and incentives had a great deal of influence over which IT initiatives are being given top priority in healthcare organizations in 2012. The top three initiatives: EHR Adoption & Meaningful Use, HIPAA 5010, and ICD-10 are all initiatives in which providers must comply or face future financial consequences. One could also argue that other identified trends — such as e-prescribing, PHI security, clinical decision support, and HIE (Health Information Exchange) are part and parcel of Meaningful Use, and therefore also being driven by this federal incentive program.”
Congdon noted the biggest surprise of the 2012 survey centered on the lack of concern for ACO preparedness. “Prior to launching the survey, I felt confident that ACO preparedness would have been one of the top 10 trends mentioned by our respondents. I based this notion not only on the fact that establishing ACOs is a cornerstone of healthcare reform, but also because ACO-related articles have been saturating industry publications in recent months. In fact, the ACO articles published by HTO to date have generated a frenzy of interest and activity from our readership. Surprisingly, however, ACO preparedness not only didn’t make the top 10, it was one of the poorest-performing IT initiatives listed in the survey.”
EHR Adoption & Meaningful Use topped last year’s list as well, followed by PHI Security and ICD-10 Compliance. “Our survey indicates that several key health IT initiatives from 2012 will carry over into 2013. In fact, 6 of the top 10 health IT trends for 2013 were on our list last year,” wrote Congdon. “This isn’t surprising, since many of the IT projects healthcare providers are currently engaged in don’t have plug and play solutions. For these initiatives, achieving desired outcomes is more of a journey than it is a destination.”
Despite the similarities between the 2012 and 2013 results, Congdon said there were some compelling new trends developing. “Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity moved from the number 11 spot in 2012 to number 5 on this year’s list. I believe the continuity issues many hospitals faced in the wake of Hurricane Sandy were influential in moving disaster recovery initiatives up on provider IT priority lists.
“Patient Portals/Patient Engagement also broke into our top 10 this year at the number 6 position (number 12 in 2012). The emphasis CMS placed on patient engagement in its release of its Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements has undoubtedly prompted healthcare facilities to solidify plans to implement patient-facing systems and services.”
Less than overwhelming concern for ACOs was again a surprise in 2013, and according to Congdon, “Another head-scratcher was how poorly BYOD (bring your own device) Management performed on our survey. Nearly 33 percent of respondents stated that this initiative was “Not Important At This Time.” This was not only confusing considering the activity and interest BYOD focused articles received in 2012, but also because of how well Mobile/Tablet Computing performed on the same survey. Mobile/Tablet Computing finished as the number 4 trend for 2013, with 53 percent of our audience ranking this technology initiative as either a “Top Priority” or “Priority.” Are the majority of healthcare facilities continuing to follow a strict corporate-issued device model, or are they allowing BYOD and ignoring the policies and technologies necessary to shore up these initiatives? In any case, there seems to be a potentially frightening contradiction here.”
What will top the list for 2014? Take the 2014 Top Health IT Trends Survey now, and be sure to look for the results in our February issue. You can also win one of two $100 Amazon gift certificates to be given away at random following the close of the survey on Monday, December 23rd.
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