Final Report: Providers

1. Executive Summary

The 13th Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey, sponsored by Superior Consultant Company, suggests that interest in HIPAA compliance, security of patient information, and clinical applications has held steady or risen; interest in using IT to improve patient safety and enterprise resource planning is strong; and relative importance of Internet applications and IT staffing has fallen.

  • HIPAA/security: Upgrading security on IT systems to meet HIPAA requirements is the top IT priority-identified by 60 percent of respondents-and is also forecast to be the top priority two years from now. Confidence in the security of patient medical information is on the rise. Fewer respondents are concerned about security breaches, and technology appears to be less of a barrier to security. Two-thirds of organizations have assessed HIPAA compliance, and awareness of HIPAA compliance measures has increased.
  • Clinical applications: Respondents identified clinical information systems as the most important healthcare application for their organizations in the next two years-cited by 74 percent of respondents, a 10-point increase over last year.
  • Patient safety: Promoting patient safety/reducing medical errors was the second most pressing current issue IT issue identified-46 percent-and also the second most pressing priority forecast over the next two years.
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP). The importance of ERP systems has increased dramatically in the past year. Last year, only 11 percent of respondents identified ERP systems as important to their organization over the next two years. In 2002, 58 percent of senior-level executives identified ERP systems as an important application.
  • Internet applications. Deploying Internet technology, last year's second-highest IT priority, decreased eight points this year. Deploying Internet technology decreased 14 points in projected importance over the next two years. Only 38 percent of respondents identified web applications as important in healthcare in the next two years, down from 50 percent last year and 70 percent in 2000.
  • IT staffing. Recruitment and retention of high-quality IT staff fell 13 percent as a current IT priority-from 26 percent in 2001 to 13 percent in 2002. This issue declined in priority as a future concern by 10 percent between 2001 and 2002.

Other notable findings include:

  • Wireless, hand-held devices, data security, and voice recognition all are high-priority technologies for the next two years.
  • Current use of data security tools has declined by 40 percent; predicted future use is expected to increase by 16 percent. Interest in XML and ASP technologies is expected to decline in the next two years, while use of voice recognition technology is expected to double.
  • Although two-thirds of respondents' facilities currently outsource IT functions, almost half predict they will not outsource IT functions two years from now.

Next: Methodology