In 2023, CIOs will play an increasing role in capital expenditure decisions, while health systems will continue to shift to artificial intelligence and augmented reality, according to a new report from medical equipment supplier Baxter.
Four takeaways from the company's 2023 Hospital Trends report:
1. Evolving group of decision-makers. CIOs and chief population health officers will play a bigger role in decisions surrounding procurement and capital expenditures. CIOs will have to balance implementing new tech-based care initiatives with the cost, disruption from training employees, and cybersecurity. Population health leaders will assess chronic illness rates, new diseases and patient readmission and use this data in negotiations with insurers.
2. Expanding care outside the hospital. Rural hospitals trying to stay open, and larger health systems seeking new revenue streams, will continue turning to hospital-at-home care made possible by advancements in remote patient monitoring and predictive analytics.
3. Increasing focus on cybersecurity. To keep up with the evolving threats of ransomware and other cyberattacks, hospitals will focus on network and cloud security, monitoring and protecting devices such as laptops and tablets, and developing employee training programs and incident response initiatives. They will also look to join shared vulnerability cataloging programs.
4. Expanding virtualization and machine learning capabilities. Hospitals will adopt AI and augmented reality capabilities such as ChatGPT and virtual reality for things like device support and clinician training.