Healthcare Firms Plan to Increase Information Technology Spending in 2023
A global budget survey on IT priorities found that the healthcare industry is heavily prioritizing cybersecurity and cloud computing with new information technology spending.
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By - Survey data from TechTarget’s 2023 IT Priorities Study revealed that 41% of healthcare organizations had increased their information technology budget in 2023 to support a more robust cybersecurity posture and comprehensive cloud computing efforts. The annual report recorded responses from 132 decision-makers finding that spending priorities have not wavered despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.
The healthcare industry overwhelmingly cited cybersecurity and cloud computing initiatives as the two most important factors impacting organizations in the coming years. Findings showed that 40% of healthcare firms planned to add cloud data security and data loss prevention programs in 2023. Meanwhile, 29% of firms said they would also be introducing cloud visibility and monitoring projects.
2023 has already seen 295 breaches in the healthcare sector, affecting more than 39 million individuals and large firms like Managed Care of North America. To keep pace with the mounting cyber threat, 50% of surveyed healthcare organizations said they would invest in email security in the next 12 months. Nearly half of responding firms will also deploy other proactive measures like vulnerability management by the end of the year.
Network security has become a major budget consideration for all healthcare organizations, and it is predicted to be the top driver of network spending in 2023.
Besides securing data assets, organizations are planning a full digital transformation that leverages increased automation and forms of artificial intelligence (AI). Among 30% of organizations, AI, data science, and machine learning were expected to be of significant importance in the next two years. Additionally, 77% of organizations will automate administrative tasks, especially revenue cycle management processes.
Source: TechTarget IT Priorities Report 2023
Providers have already begun to utilize generative AI to automate billing, insurance approvals, and collection services. Research from the 2022 State of Revenue Integrity Report found that charge description master maintenance, denial management, and other revenue cycle management processes are increasingly being automated with new vendor solutions.
Going forward, organizations plan to broaden their automation goals to improve internal work efficiency and clinical business processes. In the next 12 months, 42% of healthcare organizations expect to automate parts of employee workflows, while 32% plan to deploy robotic process automation powered by AI.
Since the advent of ChatGPT, physicians and administrators have rapidly searched for ways to employ generative AI in the healthcare setting. In a recent report from Massachusetts General Hospital, researchers found that patient interactions may be improved with the advent of generative AI. In that study, experts commented that AI would likely advance healthcare productivity and “free providers for more cognitively-intensive patient communications.”
Healthcare organizations will rely on the cloud to store and share their troves of new data. Public cloud storage is a top investment area, and 23% of organizations plan to deploy additional public cloud storage by the end of 2023. Infrastructure and management technologies will also heavily rely on new cloud investment. Survey data showed that 29% of organizations were deploying hybrid cloud systems, and another 27% would add off-premises cloud infrastructure. Overall, 92% of professionals said they would have a distributed cloud implemented by 2025.
Access the full report here to learn more about the healthcare industry’s budget and goals.
