Optimizing EHRs and population health will be top investment priorities for CIOs in the coming years, according to a KPMG survey of College of Healthcare Information Management Executives members.
For the survey, KPMG asked 112 members of CHIME about health IT investment priorities. The survey was conducted in January 2017.
Here are five survey findings.
1. Thirty-eight percent of respondents ranked EHR system optimization at their top investment priority over the next three years. That was followed by accountable care/population health technology (21 percent), consumer/clinical and operational analytics (16 percent), virtual/telehealth technology enhancements (13 percent), revenue cycle systems/replacement (7 percent) and enterprise resource planning systems/ replacement (6 percent).
2. The study also found improving clinical/business processes topped CIOs' list of challenges, closely followed by improving operating efficiency and delivering business intelligence/analytics, according to the release.
3. KPMG said these spending plans are likely to remain the same among 63 percent of respondents for the next 12 months and for 44 percent during the next two years. For the next 12 months, 18 percent of respondents expect higher spending.
4. The study found approximately one quarter of respondents said their organizations were implementing or investing in cloud computing infrastructure (servers, storage and data centers) and 18 percent said their investments were in enterprise resource planning solutions.
5. KPMG said the biggest challenges and concerns with cloud computing were regarding data loss/privacy, applications not being fully optimized with the cloud and integration with existing architecture.