Healthcare invests in IT

The vast majority of global healthcare organisations are investing in virtualisation infrastructure that is having a profound, positive effect on the quality of services delivered by the IT organisations, according to a new Vizioncore Virtualisation Review survey, reports Webitpr.

These investments have allowed healthcare organisations to more quickly implement new technologies and lower hardware acquisition costs, among other key benefits, according to the survey of healthcare IT professionals conducted by Vizioncore earlier this year.

“With 93% of survey participants indicating their organisations are making further virtualisation investments in 2008, and with 93% saying that those investments have had a direct, positive impact on IT service quality, virtualisation is more than a trend in healthcare - it is a key strategy for improving patient care,” said Chris Akerberg, president and COO of Vizioncore.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS), is failing to make it more convenient for the public to receive the care they need, by not making use of everyday technology and innovation that consumers would welcome, say two new reports published by influential health think tank The King's Fund, states Hospital IT Europe.

The reports argue the NHS has been slow to adopt technologies that are already in widespread use elsewhere, such as in the financial services and travel industries.

Even well-established technologies, such as e-mail and the Internet, are not being used routinely in the NHS to help patients, for example, with booking GP appointments, receiving routine test results, viewing medical records or having online consultations.

US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both put an emphasis on using technology to digitise patient records and eliminate paper-based processes that are inefficient, redundant, costly and potentially deadly, reports Information Week.

But the uncertainty for healthcare providers is whether the emphasis on healthcare reforms and healthcare IT by the candidates will ultimately translate into any new programmes that help fund the deployment of technology, or at least make it easier to recoup the investment.

With a sick economy, any money the government puts toward healthcare IT programmes could be scanty. But, says Massachusetts senator John Kerry, healthcare reform can't be deferred by the weak economy because healthcare is such a big part of the economy, accounting for $1 out of every $6 spent in the US.