Leading U.S. Healthcare Cloud Provider Releases Exclusive Healthcare IT Study

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 19, 2016) – National IT infrastructure and cloud services provider Peak 10 revealed today in its 2nd National IT Trends in Healthcare study, that healthcare CIOs are under pressure to keep up with rapid advancements in interoperability, big data and security challenges.  Peak 10, which published its inaugural National IT Trends in Healthcare study last year, surveyed another 157 C-level executives and information technology professionals across the U.S. again this year.  The study delivers unique insights based on data that illustrate industry challenges and provides a window into the future of the healthcare industry.  Among these, the study shows that hospital groups are moving to outsource IT functions; adopt SaaS and cloud-based solutions; implement telemedicine portals; and rely on analytics and big data to accommodate the rapidly growing analyst-based workforce.

“Technology is changing at a rapid rate and while it is making patient’s lives easier, it is also increasing the amount of information that is at risk of falling into the wrong hands,” says David Kidd, VP of governance, risk and compliance at Peak 10. “Although healthcare organizations have been cautious about moving to the cloud, they are now recognizing the benefits and security in the cloud. This allows for more time to be spent on patients and the organization’s core mission.”

Additional findings from the study include:

• Now more than ever hospitals are seeing the benefits and efficiencies of moving towards outsourcing and trusting the cloud, cited by up to 50 percent increase in cloud services (IaaS)
• Data privacy and security are still primary concerns due to recent ransomware attacks on hospitals according to 59 percent of respondents
• IT budgets are expected to increase in the next 12 months according to 67 percent of healthcare IT leaders
• Some of the top initiatives that CIOs and IT leaders at healthcare organizations are concerned with, include hardware and software upgrades, EHR systems, analytics and big data initiatives, patient portals and leveraging IT to manage their population health initiatives
• The main challenges they face are system interoperability issues, meeting security and compliance, and balancing their human capital resources to meet regulatory and business requirements

As the role of information technology in healthcare rapidly evolves, sound technology infrastructures allow organizations to become more efficient but also recognize the barriers they face in protecting patient data and meeting government regulations. In addition to other healthcare IT content and resources from Peak 10, the complete, complimentary research findings from The Peak 10 2nd National IT Trends in Healthcare study can be downloaded exclusively here: http://bit.ly/1V6FAD7.

“It’s important to Peak 10 to stay ahead of the trends in the Healthcare IT industry and be able to support where needed,” says Christina Kyriazi, product marketing and analytics manager at Peak 10. “By researching and completing studies, such as the National IT Trends in Healthcare study, we are gaining insights to provide the best service for our customers and their staff.”