"The survey results support what we hear anecdotally from healthcare providers," said Modern Healthcare Editor David Burda. "But if they're waiting for the federal government to act, they may be waiting a long time given the government's other federal budget priorities."
Some 145 senior-level healthcare executives from hospitals, healthcare systems, physician practices and other provider organizations responded to the survey, which was conducted from Nov. 19, 2007, through Jan. 21, 2008.
About 18 percent of the executives said their healthcare organizations will spend 2.6 percent to 3 percent of their total operating budget on information technology this year, which was the median range of spending in this year's survey. By comparison, last year's median spending range was slightly lower -- 2.1 percent to 2.5 percent -- which was cited by about 16 percent of last year's respondents.
Healthcare providers' interest in electronic health record systems is on the rise, the survey found. About 58 percent of this year's respondents cited the adoption of an EHR system as one of their top three IT priorities this year compared with about 54 percent last year.
But most of the executives surveyed felt that the federal government needs to provide money to healthcare organizations in order to meet President Bush's goal of having most Americans have access to an EHR by 2014. About 86 percent of the surveyed executives said the government should subsidize the cost of EHR systems at hospitals, while about 73 percent said the feds should do the same for physician practices.
