Local IT health expenditure is expected to reach $2.1 billion by 2016, according to a report by analyst firm Ovum, which is driven by increased spending on electronic health records (EHRs), picture archiving and telehealth services.
In the firm’s latest IT healthcare market forecast, the drive to cut costs in the sector, as well as improve patient services were highlighted as key reasons for increased spending.
Ovum analyst, Cornelia Wels-Maug, said telehealth services, such as the monitoring of conditions via telecommunications technology and EHR, were predicted to provide the strongest growth.
"Increasing access, accuracy, and availability of healthcare data are absolutely fundamental to cutting costs," Wels-Maug said in a statement.
"It reduces double testing of patients for various diseases and improves the overall efficiency of hospitals and surgeries.”
Wels-Maug also said that software for health information exchanges, which allow the exchange of information stored in disparate IT systems, will be heavily invested in.
"This is an area where we will see more and more investment because sharing health information electronically helps providers gain a more complete picture, giving them a holistic view of patients and their history," she said.
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