The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society predicts that hospitals will spend $14.4 billion on IT systems through 2014 but that capital spending will remain relatively flat until funding from the federal stimulus package kicks in, Government Health IT reports.
On Tuesday, HIMSS officials discussed their hospital health IT spending projections, which are based on the group’s tracking of more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals.
According to HIMSS, spending on systems – such as electronic health records, computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support – is expected to reach $1.7 billion this year. Hospitals’ IT spending later will increase because of the effect of the federal stimulus package, HIMSS predicts.
Funding Constraints
Mike Davis, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics, said that hospitals face funding challenges in the near term.
He said that banks are not lending to the hospitals he has talked to, including those that have submitted business plans based on the federal stimulus package. He added that hospital endowment funds have lost 20% to 30% of their value in some cases. More Here EMR Stimulus Package