By Natalie Slodowy, July 2008
Healthcare IT company Logicalis has compiled and released a list of the top 10 information technology initiatives seen as a focus among hospital and other medical groups across the US. The list encompasses a range of technologies, but according to Logicalis executives, data storage is the number one driver for the majority of these initiatives. The HIT initiatives ranked as follows:
1. Electronic Health/Medical Records
2. Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity
3. Medical Archiving Systems
4. Storage Consolidation and Virtualization
5. Backup (disk-based and online storage)
6. Business Intelligence
7. Picture Archiving and Communication System
8. Infrastructure for Health Information Systems
9. Compliance
10. Securing Electronic Protected Health Information
Further, according to Logicalis executives, although most of these initiatives are only in the planning or early implementation stages, they are rapidly becoming a serious priority in the minds of more and more healthcare administrators. The various obstacles and issues needing to be addressed in the HIT upgrading and development process are vast and complex, yet are becoming established as an imperative action in healthcare.
"These are complex, and often competing, issues facing healthcare IT professionals," said Karen Burton, Healthcare Solutions Business Development manager for Logicalis."The challenge facing our healthcare customers is to provide accurate, timely information critical to patient safety - the entire medical record from digital imaging procedures to lab results and billing - and maintain patient privacy and hospital security. It can be overwhelming for organizations that are focused simply on day-to-day patient care."
The primary answer to facing these challenges appears to be the development of superior data management and storage solutions. Allowing for both more secure and accessible data is the primary goal among many HIT professionals, according to recent research commissioned by Logicalis and Televerde Insight.