CHIME survey: IT service model could save $11B

Healthcare providers could reduce costs by nine percent or $11 billion over the next three years through the adoption of IT-as-a-service models, according to a report by the public-private partnership MeriTalk and EMC. The findings are based on a survey of 109 members of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME).

The majority (94 percent) of respondents say they already have purchased at least part of their IT portfolio "as a service," divided up in the following ways: 

• 87 percent have purchased software or applications as a service, such as virtualization.
• 22 percent have purchased platforms or complete environments, which can help increase the use of private and hybrid clouds.
• 18 percent have purchased infrastructure-as-a-service.

While just 15 percent of the respondents' IT portfolios are delivered as a service now, the respondents estimate that 47 percent has the potential to be delivered through private, hybrid or public clouds. Almost one-third (32 percent) expect their portfolios will run on that model in the next three years, according to a release on the survey results.

Ninety percent said they believe IT innovation is key to their organization's success and are doing the following to achieve their goals:

• 87 percent are deploying virtualization.
• 73 percent are streamlining IT operations.
• 48 percent are centralizing IT management.

Their top three goals are achieving Stage 2 Meaningful Use, preparing for accountable care and improving information security.