Survey: Healthcare execs see IT as bright spot, but reform not the answer
Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of U.S. health executives polled for a survey on the impact of technology in healthcare reform agree or strongly agree that the American healthcare system is in a “state of crisis,” according to a report by StatCom.
The StatCom-sponsored survey polled approximately 440 health officials, ranging in management levels. Fifty-four percent of respondents held positions as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CNOs, CMOs or CIOs and 18 percent held roles as directors. The survey sought to determine the impact that the healthcare reform discussion is having on hospitals’ operations, particularly those involving health IT and patient flow processes.
“The U.S. healthcare system is certainly not immune to the economic challenges facing corporate America. In fact, in many ways [it has] been hit even harder,” said Ben Sawyer, executive vice president of StatCom.
Eighty-six percent of healthcare executives believed that by improving productivity and efficiency within their facilities, better accommodation of future patient demand could be achieved. Despite this opinion however, a majority of respondents polled expressed concerns that a healthcare reform with a public option would negatively impact quality of patient care.
The survey found that 61 percent of respondents believe that if healthcare reform with a public option passes, their hospitals’ profit margins will decrease. In addition, 45 percent of healthcare executives reported they believe that if such legislation is passed, the state of the U.S. healthcare system will get worse.
Room for improvement also was noted by the survey in terms of health IT. The study found that 69 percent of officials plan to invest in the improvement of their existing technology over the course of 2010 and 57 percent predict their IT budgets will increase in the coming year, despite noting that many other projects will be put on hold in 2010 due to the state of the economy.
“It is good news that, even in the midst of a challenging economic environment, most hospitals plan to increase IT budgets in 2010,” Karl Straub, president of StatCom said. “In an era where healthcare facilities are closely monitoring their expenditures, an increase in IT budgets, if focused on solutions that can deliver improved patient throughput and productivity will have a positive impact on the healthcare industry.”
The technologies most commonly indicated for expansion by the respondents were EMRs (71 percent) and computerized physician order entry software (53 percent).
Sixty-three percent of respondents reported that efforts to improve and better manage length-of-stay (LOS) at their facilities are currently underway, and 93 percent of the executives polled said they are currently relying on case management to direct LOS.
Sixty-eight percent of healthcare executives reported that the solution that had the most potential of improving patient throughput in their facilities was patient flow and logistics solutions, but only 31 percent reported that these measures would receive attention and budget approval in 2010, according to the survey’s findings.
“In the coming months,” concluded Sawyer, “we will likely see more movement from hospital executives to adopt technologies, such as hospital operating systems, as a way to improve their bottom line and the overall patient experience.”