Healthcare providers are racing to update their IT infrastructure to meet a wide range of patient preferences, from time-honored in-person care to digital self-service solutions. Leaders of these organizations strive to adopt a “patient first, data everywhere” approach that prioritizes patients’ needs and experiences while enabling seamless access to their medical information from almost any healthcare facility.
However, this vision may conflict with available resources. Healthcare organizations, especially smaller ones, struggle with budget and bandwidth constraints as they try to update their IT systems.
Artificial intelligence implementation on the horizon
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key driver of modernization efforts. According to the latest HIMSS Market Insights study on IT infrastructure modernization, more than three out of five organizations plan to utilize artificial intelligence technologies in the next three years.1 This includes generative artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and workflow automation.
Kurt Telep, chief technology officer for healthcare at cloud services provider Nutanix, emphasized the importance of preparing IT networks for data-intensive AI requirements. “To maximize the value of investing in artificial intelligence, it is necessary to have an IT infrastructure that can handle processing large volumes of data so that useful information can be obtained faster,” he said.
The adoption curve for AI technology is steep. While only 11% of surveyed organizations currently utilize AI-powered computer vision algorithms, 69% plan to adopt the technology in the next five years. This signals a potential revolution in medical imaging and diagnostics.
Obstacles on the way to modernization
Despite this optimism, the road to IT modernization is full of obstacles. More than three out of four leaders (76%) in the HIMSS Market Insights study point to rising IT infrastructure costs as the main barrier.
The study found that health care decision-makers identified an average of six significant obstacles, with IT security and resiliency (61%) and investment prioritization (59%) topping the list. Data management is another significant challenge, especially for management staff. The sheer volume of patient data combined with the need to share it seamlessly across care settings is pushing many organizations to their limits.
Telep noted that even compact practices require long-term data storage and high availability to scale their operations, and relying on legacy solutions is becoming increasingly costly. “The costs of maintaining traditional IT infrastructure continue to increase due to the higher maintenance costs associated with older technologies,” he said.
According to Telep, healthcare IT solutions providers can play a key role in increasing an organization’s ability to maximize its investment and ensure that solutions work as intended. This includes closer cooperation between suppliers, especially those implementing artificial intelligence in products and services. “Supplier collaboration leads to much, much better outcomes,” he said.
Healthcare leaders’ quest to modernize their IT infrastructure isn’t just about keeping up with the times; it’s also about improving patient outcomes by changing the future of healthcare delivery. By adopting technologies that facilitate a patient-centric approach and seamless data sharing across environments, healthcare organizations can continue to meet a variety of care preferences and remain the healthcare providers of choice.
Rescue
- HIMSS Market Insights. 2024. . This survey was conducted among 54 qualified healthcare IT/technology managers and leaders (managers and above) in the United States. Dell was not identified as a sponsor of the study.
Read Nutanix Report on the state of artificial intelligence in the enterprise Here.