Tight Budget? Spend Wisely! NAHIT survey reveals more cuts.

Modern Healthcare.com featured an article today entitled: Many hospitals will cut IT budgets, staff in '09: NAHIT. Here is an exerpt discussing what hospital executives reported:

"More than half, 55%, of the executives surveyed said their hospitals were experiencing delays in access to capital, and most, 74%, are delaying or extending the timeline on capital projects. More than half, 57%, said they are deferring IT equipment purchases and 52% said they are extending timelines for implementing health IT initiatives, according to the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. The Chicago-based alliance released a report of the survey results."

This news demonstrates why HIT is so critical. Budgets are already tight and these tough economic times and are expected to “get worse before they get better” according to President-Elect Obama’s recent statements. As resources dwindle in terms of human capital and funding, hospitals need to look to health care IT solutions to improve productivity and to help create more efficient processes.

EHRs and E-Prescriptions are not the whole answer to the problem. A change in the culture of America’s hospitals must happen to improve patient care, reduce costs and reduce risks across the board. Advanced health care IT solutions, like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), to automate information gathering and distribution to the proper systems on the location of hospital assets, inventory, staff & patients, medications, lab samples and so forth.

This type of automation allows clinicians to be patient-centered, and eliminates human error, among its other benefits. The cost of operating hospitals is significantly reduced when staff are more productive and assets are easily located. Costly legal issues are also avoided with the additional decrease in risks and “never events,” ensuring that hospitals can count on compensation from payers -- who are increasingly refusing to pay for hospital-acquired conditions.

While infrastructure for advanced health care IT solutions requires an initial investment, the case studies have shown rapid ROI and long-term cost savings. Less money for IT should induce wiser spending moving forward.

For more information on RFID solutions for health care, contact Ralph Wagner at 866-257-2111 or rwagner@dcc-online.com.