Less than half of hospitals are using cloud technology for supply chain management, but by 2026, that figure is expected to increase to nearly 70 percent, according to a GHX survey.
GHX, or Global Healthcare Exchange, surveyed 103 hospital and health system leaders in July. Forty-five percent reported they already use cloud-based supply chain management technologies, and 24 percent said they plan to adopt these tools within the next two years.
Cloud-based technology has been present in hospital systems for years, most notably for EHRs (69 percent of survey participants), data management (67 percent) and cybersecurity (62 percent).
"The movement to the cloud for supply chain management has been slower" than these areas, "however, it is rapidly gaining momentum," GHX said in its report.
Most health systems and hospitals that have made the jump into cloud-based supply chain technology said the reason was because of mergers and acquisitions, and other popular drivers behind this growing trend include bolstering data security and supply chain resiliency.