HIMSS Analytics: Hospital IT leaders talk network priorities, challenges

Hospital IT leaders generally agree on IT infrastructure priorities but have varying approaches to addressing network scalability, executive support and viability of cloud computing to secure data, according to a May 6 HIMSS Analytics and Comcast Business report.

The report sheds light on what hospital IT leaders deem as major network challenges and barriers, and discusses their current strategies to meet future network demands.

IT network priorities all revolved around accommodating greater mobile and wireless connectivity to their networks. In the report, focus group participants identified four interrelated IT infrastructure priorities: use of mobile devices; security; data storage; and images and information exchange.

Participants offered the following feedback:

• They reported using a variety of means to establish their networks, such as Wi-Fi and DSL lines, but noted that the number of wireless versus wired devices was growing exponentially;
• To establish reliable IT networks, participants said designing networks with “zero downtime” was crucial because of the high demand for data, and they reported varying levels of disaster preparedness (i.e., tape back-ups and multiple data centers); and
• IT networks are sufficient, but healthcare organizations must prepare for an increasingly wireless world.

Hospital IT leaders listed challenges as well, including “drop zones,” regulating web access to limit personal internet use and the lack of options from vendors on networking solutions. Each participant had a different approach for addressing these issues, according to the report.