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The high demand for qualified health IT professionals continues, as revealed in the 2014 HIMSS Workplace Study, conducted by HIMSS Analytics. The study shows more than 84 percent of survey respondents reported their organization hired at least one staff member in the past year, a finding consistent with the 2013 survey (86 percent). With hiring in 2014 expected to continue at the 2013 pace, 82 percent of survey respondents planned to hire at least one full-time employee (FTE) in the next 12 months, a slight increase from the 79 percent of respondents planning the same in 2013.
As research and development continues to reveal the benefits of medical imaging in healthcare, vendors are steadily improving imaging scanners for added efficiency and workflow. Because advanced visualization technologies are a part of the larger medical imaging discussion, these products are also evolving and growing in response to innovation within medical imaging.
Bed management, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and financial modeling applications are positioned for accelerated growth among hospitals, according to data from the “HIMSS Analytics Essentials of the U.S. Hospital IT Market, Spring 2014 Edition.”
HIMSS Analytics published the results of the third Annual HIMSS Analytics Mobile Survey at its annual conference in Orland, Fla. The survey examines use of mobile devices in provider patient care improvement initiatives. For the first time this year, the survey questions were modified to closely align with the six areas of the mHIMSS Roadmap, a strategic framework for providers to implement mobile and wireless technologies.
The 25th Annual 2014 HIMSS Leadership Survey examines topics crucial to healthcare leaders including IT priorities, issues driving and challenging technology adoption and IT security. One finding from this year’s survey concerns the perceived impact financial resources are having on IT implementations. A majority of the survey participants (65 percent) reported IT budget increases, which is likely a contributing factor to the transition to a paperless environment. However, a lack of adequate financial resources tops the list of barriers to successful IT implementation. This is a shift from the past two years when the primary IT challenge was insufficient and untrained staffing resources.
Results of the 2013 HIMSS Security Survey show progress toward hardened security and use of analytics, but more work is needed to mitigate insider threat, such as inappropriate access of data by employees. Federal initiatives such as OCR audits, meaningful use (MU) and the HIPAA Omnibus Rule encourage healthcare organizations to increase the budgets and resources dedicated to securing patient health data. However, over the past year, 19 percent of respondents reported a security breach. Additionally, 12 percent of organizations have had at least one known case of medical identity theft reported by a patient.
Through the existing Innovator in Residence (IIR) program, HIMSS and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are collaborating to move forward on the creation of a nationwide patient data matching strategy.
To the gratification of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT have heard concerns from health stakeholders and extended Meaningful Use Stage 2 by one year.
Adopting an approach that encourages continued progress while simultaneously acknowledging short-term obstacles, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) recommends launching Stage 2 Meaningful Use on-schedule and extending Year 1 of the Meaningful Use Stage 2 attestation period through April 2015 and June 2015 for eligible hospitals (EHs) and eligible professionals (EPs), respectively. This would encompass 18 months in which EHs and EPs can attest to Meaningful Use requirements for one quarter.
HIMSS Analytics recognizes six Legacy Health hospitals, and their ambulatory clinics, located in Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash., with the HIMSS Stage 7 Award, and Stage 7 EMR Ambulatory Award.