Communications and Technology Industry Research

Recent research by in-Stat.com forecasts healthcare spending to reach $518 million on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), or what is more commonly known as “cloud computing,” in 2015, leading the pack in healthcare spending, according to a company press release posted at outlookseries.com.

Cloud computing allows users to run applications and store information over the Web.

Healthcare, which includes ambulatory healthcare services, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, along with social assistance, is a growing part of the U.S. business scene, according to in-Stat, and recent company research “supports a forecast of continued growth, with healthcare spending $518 million on IaaS,” according to the press release.

Overall telecom spending by healthcare and social services industries was just under $16 billion in 2010, according to in-Stat. The company noted that wireless, the largest of the product categories, makes up about almost half of telecom spending. But cloud computing and managed services are the fasting growing parts of the healthcare market. “Wireline data and wireline voice comprise the remainder of the telecom spend,” the press release states.

“The healthcare vertical segment, across all sizes of business, and across nearly all product groups, is fast becoming the most robust business vertical segment in US business markets,” says Greg Potter, analyst, in-Stat, in the press release. “Demand for cloud computing services in particular has exploded and we see nothing that would indicate that the trend won’t continue at least through 2015.”

The press release go on to note that small businesses with 20 to under 100 employees will be in the lead in healthcare, growing over 35 percent from 2010 to 2015; enterprise wireless spending in healthcare will increase roughly 12 percent from 2010 to 2011, and healthcare public cloud computing spending will gross over $1 billion in 2013.

The In-Stat (News - Alert) research, Healthcare and Social Services Spending on Telecom Services: Wireline Voice, Wireline Data, Wireless, Cloud Computing, and VoIP by Size of Business (IN1105131SBA) provides forecasts of US business telecom spending for the 2010-2015 period with detailed segmentation by product category, size of business, corporate liable spending, and individual liable spending.

As far as what it costs to be a patient, the top three most expensive cities for healthcare are Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York, respectively, according to a story at the Huffington Post (News - Alert).

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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM (News - Alert) in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.