Healthcare IT sector keeps growing

Health information technology is the fastest growing segment of the global healthcare marketplace, showing an 11% combined annual growth rate that is likely to continue over the next four years, reports InformationWeek.

A recent study from Scientia Advisors highlights that to remain competitive, vendors must take into account government incentives, requirements for clinical decision-making and electronic health record systems, and emerging competitors in Asia and elsewhere in the developing world.

Healthcare IT spending in the US is to focus on inpatient and outpatient electronic health records systems, at the expense of specialty and departmental information systems and other capital investments, concluded Scientia.

Microsoft is releasing an online series called Health Tech Today to address and highlight the latest industry trends and sustainable solutions that improve patient services, says Healthcare IT News.

The first show will include Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu who will use Web cam and Windows Live Messenger to discuss electronic health as the "great equaliser between rich and poor, healthy and well".

Microsoft has been active in the healthcare IT sector since it launched Microsoft HealthVault in October 2007. Microsoft HealthVault is a technology platform billed as the answer to how consumers can best get a handle on their healthcare information and share it.

The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco is making use of Paessler's PRTG Network Monitor to combat network delays which result in extended patient waiting times, system downtime and the loss in productivity, reports Healthcare IT News.

“It's a better way to network the traffic, peaking the Internet connections. The software saved the company money and my time, I don't have to troubleshoot as much; it tells you which points in the system are piquing and when and it reduces down time,” says Adam Eckstrom-Browne, the nine-office, two-clinic network's sole administrator.

Patients have noticed the improved uptime of the system as a whole and increased access to the practice system, scheduling and connecting to other constituents. E-mails notify patients when the system does go down, concludes Eckstrom-Browne.