Apr 18
2013
Beyond the Health IT Boom: the Crash Is Coming
Guest post by Steven Heck, president MedSys Group.
The thriving provider based healthcare IT industry is no longer news. The history and evolution of the American healthcare system is unique. In 2009, Congress agreed that better information technology was needed and approved a $20B stimulus under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The technology being deployed is expected to result in better patient outcomes. Medicare/Medicaid “carrots” and “sticks” were tied to “Meaningful Use (MU)” criteria. We are now in Stage 2 and it is not getting any easier.
However, that stimulus is being consumed and time is running out. But, providers have spent far more than $20B and they are running out of margin and time. The provider sector remains a highly fragmented delivery system of primary, acute and post-acute caregivers. This sector is mostly nonprofit and historically local and/or regional in nature.