EHR integration, secure messaging tops list of CIOs 2018 priorities

Hospital Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are setting their sights on technology investments and challenges for 2018, according to a survey by Spok.

The survey, which includes responses from 46 CHIME CIOs, provides insight into what hospital executives are focusing on in the New Year.

Findings include:

• 40 percent of CIOs report deploying an enterprise analytics platform as the top priority for 2018.
• 79 percent state secure messaging and communications among care teams are driving their mobile technology selection, followed by receiving alerts from clinical systems (60 percent) and critical test result alerts (60 percent).
• 65 percent of hospitals are working to incorporate mobile elements into their strategy to support clinical workflows; 26 percent are not developing mobile care tam strategy.
• 76 percent of hospitals report progress toward implementing secure texting within mobile strategy in the next three years, followed by 70 percent for medication administration and 71 percent for clinical documentation.
• 50 percent of CIOs report their hospitals have a patient experience officer or equivalent.
• 45 percent of hospitals are evolving patient portals to support population health initiatives.
• 62 percent of CIOs reported physician adoption and buy-in as their top priority for the next 18 months, followed by optimizing EHR integration with other hospital systems at 38 percent.
• 71 percent of CIOs base decisions for communication technologies on their ability to integrate with EHRs, followed by integration with other systems (69 percent) and ease of use for end users (62 percent).

“CIOs are making thoughtful decisions about their technology investments. The point of view behind the healthcare CIO’s desk is one of challenges and opportunities, considering future investments and measuring success,” stated the report.