While the overall economy may well continue to sputter, the health IT market should be hitting on all cylinders over the next five years, a new industry report predicts.
One slice of the market, federal spending on health IT, is expected to grow from $4.5 billion in 2011 to $6.5 billion in 2016, for an annualized growth rate of 7.5 percent, according to a summary of the report, "Federal Health Information Technology Market, 2011-2016." The market report by Deltek, a Herndon, Va.-based software and information services provider, is available for purchase.
Key findings, according to the summary, include:
- Demand for mobility, telehealth, informatics, decision support, interoperability and common electronic health records will be driven by technology advances, potential long-term costs savings and improved patient outcomes.
- Aging EHRs operated by federal agencies "are overly ripe for major transformation."
- The federal government must transition from a "pay for service" model to a "pay for health" model that emphasizes outcomes.
- Health IT adoption is threatened by data security, program integrity, care coordination, political agendas and the federal deficit.
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.
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