Hospitals Must Look to the Cloud: A Key Solution to Meeting Healthcare Mandates

HOSPITALS MUST LOOK TO THE CLOUD A KEY SOLUTION TO MEETING THE HEALTHCARE MANDATES Now that healthcare in America is evolving as rapidly as technology, hospitals are expected to transform their archaic IT systems to meet reform requirements or face significant penalties from the government. Add to the mix a lack of skilled IT workers and an operating system that is already functioning at a loss, and the next few years look very grim. How can hospitals meet the mandates and recover their cumbersome IT systems? We outline what these facilities need to implement now to meet a brighter future. WHAT'S ON THE LINE? Hospitals are currently struggling to deal with Electronic Medical Record (EMR) upgrades, figuring out Health Information Exchange (HIE) compatibility, Meaningful Use mandates, and the upgrades required for International Statistical Failure to comply with deadlines can result in the government withholding federal subsidies, and 15% FINES until an organization reaches 15% Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10). attainment. For hospitals, this is a significant cost. TOP IT PRIORITIES The 2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Leadership Survey identified that healthcare reform will be the key issue that IT organizations will focus on. The number of surveyed executives that 2013 28% identified this area as a top IT priority continues 2012 38% to drop from half of the respondents. 2011 50% of respondents indicated indicated that ensuring 20% 19% 17% of respondents said they would focus on leveraging their Electronic Health their top IT priority was to optimize the effective use Records were fully information housed in data of their currently installed functional would be the warehouses and business systems. focus. intelligence systems. revenue cycle management ? supply chain system NONE of the respondents identified a focus on revenue cycle management (RCM) or supply chain systems as a top IT priority. FAILURE TO EXECUTE Surveyed IT executives admitted there are several factors preventing their organizations from implementing their top priorities. TOP BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING IT: Lack of Staffing Resources 21% Lack of Adequate Financial Support 15% Vendor Inability to Deliver Product 13% Difficulty in End User Acceptance 7% Lack of Time Commitment from Clinicians 6% Lack of Strategic IT Plan 4% Lack of Interoperable Systems 4% FINDING EFFICIENCY To reach compliancy more quickly and efficiently, hospitals must implement a cloud-based management system, which will reduce cost of poor IT management and streamline all processes. A cloud-based system should employ the following for hospitals: ... CREATE VISIBILITY EASE ADOPTION SOLVE A platform that offers visibility into an Improve communications workflow by Manage complex programs with multiple projects, such as EHR/EMR implementations. entire portfolio of IT programs, increasing capturing requests from clinicians who are accountability across dozens of projects, not used to interacting with IT systems. allowing for better management of IT financials and resources. SOURCES: INNOTAS.COM, HIMSS.ORG INNOTAS Cloud S olution s for IT Managem ent |- ..... 000000G