2014 health IT spending in N. America to surpass $34.5B

Healthcare organizations in North America are expected to spend more than $34.5 billion on health IT in 2014 to keep pace with healthcare regulations, according to a recent report, “SourceIT Healthcare Report,” from Technology Business Research (TBR).

Report analysts interviewed 225 health IT executives and line-of-business managers and conducted 25 in-depth interviews to uncover spending intentions, priorities and perceptions, according to TBR.

The study examines how the billions will be distributed across industry applications, business applications, productivity applications, business intelligence and analytics, database and technology and systems management. For example, it explores how the average budget—approximately $12 million at providers and $18 million at payers —will be allocated across EHRs, EMRs, claims management and call centers.

TBR's report also covers 30 leading health IT vendors—including Accenture, Cerner, Citrix, HP, GE Healthcare, Lawson, IBM, McKesson, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.com—with an outlook on their prospects in the coming year.

“The wide variety of regulatory mandates and changes coming into force in the near term in the U.S. magnifies the pressure on healthcare providers, commercial payers and public sector agencies to maximize the value and ROI of their IT spending to meet these requirements,” said Joseph Walent, TBR healthcare analyst.