Whenever there is a crisis, there is learning that goes on.
With the growing awareness about healthcare products and services, hospitals are gaining a lot of importance. With the growth of IT as backbone for all the data processing, HIS (hospital information system) is gaining popularity and becoming an integral part of hospitals.
Market scenario
The global healthcare information systems market is expected to reach USD 158.89 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 7.55 percent during 2020–2025, estimates Brand Essence Research. Increasing adoption of technologically advanced infrastructure in hospitals, diagnostic centers, clinical laboratories, and other medical facilities is one of the key factors expected to boost the market. Digital wearable devices is one such technology that supports real-time patient monitoring. These devices have been witnessing a rise in adoption and demand by patients in recent years. In addition, growing awareness regarding e-prescriptions among practitioners and patients is positively impacting the market growth.
Benefits of installing these solutions in various medical facilities include reducing inventory management costs and decreasing incidence of medication errors. A rising number of medical facilities are shifting from paper-based methods of keeping track of data to computer-based solutions, which is not only more effective but faster as well. This is particularly true for large databases.
Increase in the number of initiatives undertaken by various medical facilities is a crucial factor anticipated to boost this market in coming years. Cyber security in the medical field, mobile apps, biomedical informatics, tele medication, electronic health records (EHR), virtual reality (VR), and artificial reality (AR) technologies are some of the key applications that adopt HIS.
Increase in demand for cloud computing applications in medical facilities is also anticipated to propel the market growth. Currently, companies are focusing on developing high-utility services that deliver personalized care. Advanced services like real-time locating services, self-service kiosks, report-monitoring tools, portal technology, and pharmacogenomics are helping to improve overall patient experience.
Real-time applications like radiofrequency identification (RFID) help hospitals in improving workflow, materials, and patient management, which ultimately enhances efficiency and cost-savings. These advancements are aimed at increasing adoption of HIS, improving healthcare IT infrastructure, and reducing inefficiencies in service delivery to patients.
Application insights. Pharmacy information systems segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2019, and it is expected to witness steady growth over the next 5 years. This can be attributed to factors like increase in adoption of technologically advanced solutions that allow pharmacists to manage medication workflow in order to improve effectiveness and efficiency of services. In addition, it plays a vital role in reducing medication errors and improving patient safety by evaluating patterns of drug use and side effects.
Medical imaging information systems are expected to register the highest CAGR of 9.6 percent over next 5 years. This is attributable to factors like increasing demand for effective management of medical imagery and rising preference for these systems in tracking billing information. Increase in prevalence of chronic diseases and need for efficiently handling image archives are also expected to boost this segment through 2025.
Deployment insights. Web-based deployment held the largest revenue share in 2019 with the expansion of web technologies across verticals by using hypertext-based principles over traditional software-based applications. Deployment of web-based systems results in streamlined and enhanced operating processes within medical facilities, addressing several issues regarding maintenance of large databases. Furthermore, the systems can be easily managed and updated as they require only the main server for installation, through which any updates on the web-based system can be processed easily and quickly.
Cloud-based deployment held the second-largest share in 2019 and the segment is likely to progress at the fastest pace over the next 5 years. Various healthcare organizations are looking forward to optimizing workflow by installing cloud-based solutions, which are known for their greater accessibility, better security, and cost effectiveness. Easy access to and availability of these systems in urban and remote areas will contribute to the growth of the segment over the forecast period. Additionally, cloud-based deployment allows providers to save money by reducing in-house storage needs, thus, making information accessible from various locations.
End-use insights. Hospitals held the largest revenue share in 2019 and the segment is expected to clock in a CAGR of 7.3 percent. Factors like presence of a large number of hospitals and growing penetration of IT in the field are expected to fuel the market growth. Over the years, information and communication technology has played a vital role in hospitals, by handling crucial data generated by various departments. Furthermore, the implementation of IT has revolutionized the entire workflow of data within hospitals, aiding the operating of non-patient care activities.
Diagnostic centers segment held the second-largest market revenue in 2019, and is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment over next 5 years. This is largely owing to increasing demand for these technologies, which will help in storing and feeding data in large numbers. These devices have provided flexibility in tracking patient and billing records, which has helped diagnostic centers immensely. Academic and research institutes have also played a key role in propelling the HIS market. The use of these advanced technologies has helped professionals in easily accessing data.
Component insights. Services segment held the largest revenue share in 2019 and is expected to register a CAGR of 7.5 percent with rising adoption in hospitals and clinics, which will enable the administrative staff to store data in bulk. The rise in demand for installation of software solutions in institutions for training and education purposes has also led to the largest share of the services segment.
Hardware held the second-largest revenue share in 2019. There has been high adoption of advanced hardware within medical facilities in order to store and access large databases and programs. Accessible to all individuals, they will also improve efficiency, enhance productivity, and reduce costs. Players are training staff on advanced programming, internet technology, and operating systems, which is expected to boost demand in coming years.
Software and systems segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment by 2025, owing to the rising demand for advanced software in hospitals, clinics, and training institutes. In addition, growing penetration of IT in the medical sector and surging adoption of technological developments in web-based software and eHealth platforms are likely to boost the market in the coming years. Significant adoption of electronic health records, which is expected to assist physicians and lab assistants in storing, managing, and accessing crucial data, will also benefit the segment.
Regional insights. In 2019, North America dominated the global market. This is due to initiatives taken by the governments in order to accelerate the implementation of IT services in the sector. Increase in the number of chronic diseases and augmentation in healthcare expenditure are some of the other factors boosting the regional market. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region over the next 5 years. This is owing to factors like increase in government initiatives and rise in awareness regarding these systems. Moreover, massive investments in this sector by various governments and growing population with chronic diseases are expected to boost the market through 2025.
Some of the key players in the global HIS market are Philips Healthcare, NextGen Healthcare, Carestream Health, Cerner Corporation, and GE Healthcare.
How COVID-19 is impacting hospitals’ IT purchasing decisions
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is throwing a new factor into hospitals’ calculations about how to proceed with current and future healthcare IT implementations. As provider organizations face a surge of new cases, or anticipate capacity challenges in the near future, they are reconsidering the speed with which they can conduct current implementations because of limitations in IT-staff capacity and the heavy demands that high patient loads are placing on clinical staff.
Looking ahead, some providers also may see future implementation efforts delayed because organizations lack the bandwidth now to support the often long and arduous process of making future purchases.
However, some forms of technology – particularly those that support telehealth services – are in hot demand as they prove their worth during the global pandemic. Organizations also are looking to quickly access and use features of their current IT to enable them to better cope with the crisis.
Hard data on the impact of COVID-19 crisis is difficult to come by, because many providers are enlisting all hands in handling the surge of cases. On-site implementations have got slowed, affected to a great extent by the ability of IT personnel to have wide access to hospital facilities that are treating larger censuses of patients.
If an organization is implementing an on-premises system, it has been put to the side unless it is absolutely critical. The industry has been moving to cloud-based services, and those services are being leveraged now. There is still an amount of work being done in the cloud.
Health IT vendors face their own challenges in supplying personnel to support implementations, with some of them making corporate decisions to have their employees work from home, or facing state governments’ stay-at-home orders. Vendors are increasing efforts to support customers virtually, with either existing products or new implementations.
Some key IT staff in provider organizations are feeling the brunt of the COVID-19 surge. The most impacted are in the area of clinical informatics like chief medical information officers and chief nursing information officers – they are being overwhelmed with the need to take care of the present need.
Healthcare organization executives may be wary about making commitments to future implementations because of financial pressures of dealing with the current crisis. With all the attention being paid to managing the surge of patients, there has been negligible discussion about how healthcare organizations will be reimbursed for the extraordinary cost of care, personnel, and supplies that will be required.
Providers are also ramping up use of existing technology that is helping them increase efficiency or expand resources to manage anticipated service demands. For example, they are implementing new and updated software from IT vendors to handle patient loads.
Organizations are likely to take more advantage of capabilities such as disease registries, which can be used to help to identify coronavirus patients or populations with comorbidities that might be highly compromised if they contract the virus. Healthcare executives would take time during the pandemic to assess how IT has enabled – or failed to help – organizations deal with this crisis, and to take a strategic, forward-thinking look at existing systems.
A lot of healthcare organizations have tactical, IT-led departments, and they will take a very tactical approach to this, with all hands on deck for COVID-19. Those that are strategic will look at what does this mean longer term in what they plan to adopt and use.
Some of the suggestions for healthcare executives, who should take time to reassess IT spending now:In addition to determining which projects to fast-track or to pause in the near term, HIT executives should try to anticipate how requirements will evolve in the future.
HIT executives should perform IT-benchmark analysis on all tools to get a handle on what constitutes fair pricing for technology.
The current crisis demonstrates the need for anticipating flexibility in new contracts, and future agreements should enable the ability to handle increases in the number of users or contracts.
Contract terms should also contain caps on costs for maintenance and recurring expenses, and better nail down price holds for the cost of software or services.
Executives should look for optimization opportunities in license and subscription agreements, particularly to determine if there is flexibility built in to current agreements.
Executives also should ensure that they are able to handle shifting venues for some staff members, who may be working from home or at remote care-delivery sites. Capabilities such as virtual private networks should be strengthened to ensure they are up to handling the load.
Valuable lessons on disaster response and technology capabilities will be learned in the coming months.
Way forward
Whenever there is a crisis, there is learning that goes on. There will be positives out of this – disaster plans are being tested, executives are seeing things that they should be doing differently, systems are being evaluated, and there will be a need to improve those. There will be a lot of learning and there will be investment that comes from that. In the meantime, people are trying to get through it.
