3 factors driving healthcare organizations to invest big in technology

In the coming decade, healthcare organizations will invest significantly more in technology.

Healthcare IT spending is expected to more than double by 2024 to $390.7 billion as more hospitals and health systems make bigger technology investments. But what factors are driving them to invest?

To find out, I spoke with Spectrum Business for enterprise healthcare account executives Abbey Plexico and Rick Bucher, who talk with hospitals and health systems every day about their IT needs.

Connecting staff far and wide

One big trend on the rise according to both Plexico and Bucher is investments in videoconferencing applications and other technologies that support remote staffing. "Hospitals in rural areas especially are really struggling with keeping good staff and finding new staff locally," says Plexico. "Because of this they’ll now hire staff in other locations and connect them back to the hospital. They come to us for the infrastructure to support the technologies that make it all happen."

Improving the patient experience with IPS

Bucher also notes that interactive patient systems (IPS) are gaining in popularity. In fact, research indicates that 85 percent of large hospitals plan to purchase IPS. IPS help improve the patient experience and patient outcomes by providing entertainment options, customized education programs and tools for communicating with hospital staff. Studies have shown that IPS can increase patient satisfaction scores by 8 to 12 percent on average.

"We partner with third-party IPS providers so hospitals can provide a more home-like experience for their patients," says Bucher. "Our fiber network provides the high bandwidth and speed needed to support the platform."

Fiber does a network good

Healthcare institutions are increasingly investing in fiber network infrastructure for its scalability, speed and reliability. Bucher has experienced this trend firsthand. "When healthcare organizations started implementing electronic medical records (EMRs), that started to change the game because EMRs can contain huge image files for things like MRIs and CT scans that are really bandwidth intensive. You need a reliable network that can scale to handle the bandwidth. You also need a network that’s low latency so doctors aren’t wasting precious seconds waiting for a file to transfer while they’re treating a critically ill patient, for example," he says. "To address these challenges, healthcare organizations often come to us for Dedicated Fiber Internet (DFI) and Ethernet services."

Is your network ready to handle these and other emerging healthcare technologies? View our infographic to learn about other technology shifts that may affect your network in the future.