Report: Larger potential market in EU for health IT integration services

There is "significant potential" for healthcare system integration markets across Western Europe, according to an analysis from market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

The report, released this month, found that the expenditure on IT services by healthcare service providers in Europe comprises 20 percent on application management, 45 percent on infrastructure management and 35 percent on integration services.

Achieving multiple and concurrent access to the same data and the existence of heterogeneous systems remain some of the most significant challenges to integration, according to the firm. In the report, Frost & Sullivan gave examples of several authorized users in a large hospital trying to access or modify healthcare data in the system simultaneously and the variability of health IT systems across departments to demonstrate health IT integration challenges.

“Integrated systems offer several advantages to the healthcare services arena such as better medical data management, cost-effective service delivery and patient-centric healthcare,” noted Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst S. Priyan.

The volume of medical data including personal patient information, medical history, insurance and financial information and laboratory results is enormous and still mounting, said the business. According to Frost & Sullivan, in structuring this mass of data, making it understandable and enabling it to interact with other systems, health IT vendors will have to strive to strike a balance between expense and margins.

“In general, processing and managing healthcare data and functions across integrated systems can help the healthcare sector handle challenges, such as increasing costs, shortage of skilled professional staff,” stated Priyan. “It can also satisfy regulatory requirements while managing the increasing burden of chronic diseases and rising patient expectations.”

Improved, universal adoption of integrated systems in the healthcare sector in Europe could not only influence the overall expenses of the healthcare setup directly and positively but also the quality of healthcare delivery, concluded Frost & Sullivan.

Around the web

Compensation for heart specialists continues to climb. What does this say about cardiology as a whole? Could private equity's rising influence bring about change? We spoke to MedAxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, a veteran cardiologist himself, to learn more.

The American College of Cardiology has shared its perspective on new CMS payment policies, highlighting revenue concerns while providing key details for cardiologists and other cardiology professionals. 

As debate simmers over how best to regulate AI, experts continue to offer guidance on where to start, how to proceed and what to emphasize. A new resource models its recommendations on what its authors call the “SETO Loop.”