Data management companies servicing the healthcare industry are taking a hit due to the declining market in electronic health records management (EHR), making for an iffy future for those in IT management and consultation.
According to recent reports, CTG, an IT solutions and services company for the healthcare business, saw a 67 percent decrease in profits for Q4 2014. And 2015 is posing to be a bit of a challenge due to the dramatic drop, so a shift in services is likely the only solution to salvage such an abysmal quarter.
According to HealthData Management, officials from the Buffalo, NY-based company said the decrease in EHR implementation and spending has set the tone for future challenges as organizations look to internal solutions to manage health records.
“Many providers and payers are holding off in the short term on making significant IT investments while determining the best way to move forward under new pay-for-performance business models being introduced with healthcare reform,” according to CTG, reported by HealthData Management.
For CTG, this means looking toward other revenue opportunities, like IT consulting services such as population health management, revenue cycle management, ICD-10, application management, and EHR performance optimization.
Electronic patient encounters represent a leap forward in legibility and the ability to rapidly retrieve information. Almost every industry is now computerized and digitized for rapid data retrieval and trend analysis, so why not the field of medicine?
CTG’s poor quarter should not be one to dictate the entire industry, however. Accenture (News - Alert) said last year that the global market for EHR is estimated to reach $22.3 billion by the end of 2015, with the North American market projected to account for $10.1 billion or 47 percent.
It’s not so much a question of when, but how we will see this market expand.
“To be effective, EHR platforms must leverage newer technologies, such as analytics and mobility, to adapt to the changing needs of patient populations and better connect physicians and patients,” said Kaveh Safavi, global managing director of Accenture Health, in a press statement. “As health systems gain more experience in meeting these goals, market growth for EHR will follow.”