It’s no secret that healthcare is rapidly changing in the United States, and healthcare IT is moving quickly to keep up. As healthcare continues to evolve, providers are quickly learning the significance of BYOD, mobile apps, archiving and DRaaS.
What’s changing now?
As mobile health is expected to expand to a $20 billion market, healthcare providers are stepping up their technology game. Last year, 78 percent of clinicians – primary care doctors, oncologists, cardiologists, psychiatrists, physicians assistants and nurse practitioners – used smartphones and 34 percent used tablets professionally. Those numbers are on the rise. This year, you can find 86 percent of doctors on their smart phones and 53 percent on tablets. Even more telling, nearly half of doctors are considered “omnivores,” meaning they use three types of devices – smartphones, tablets and PCs.
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What’s the next step?
Healthcare providers are looking to provide the access that patients are requesting. Right now, 43 percent of patients can access their medical records online, but more than 80 percent would like access. To meet patient requests, the patient portal market is predicted to reach $900 million over the next three years.
What obstacles must healthcare IT overcome?
More than 33 percent of hospitals don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place. The needs of patients require real time, available access to healthcare systems at any given time – including when disaster, natural or otherwise, strikes. As healthcare IT continues to move forward, disaster recovery must become a priority.
Is healthcare IT moving quickly enough to keep up with the changes in healthcare?