Sizing Up the Health Care Market

One of my favorite sections of the Harvard Business Review is the case study. It’s the business version of the Kobayashi Maru, a no-win situation that forces you to think about the best of bad options. The October 2009 issue featured a case study titled, When Hackers Turn to Blackmail. Intriguing enough, but the fun begins when you delve in and learn that it’s a hospital being blackmailed over access to their electronic medical records. With lives potentially at stake, the drama unfolds. Who said business journals are boring.

This case study is especially pertinent given the focus on the health care sector this year. The health care market is huge and represents one of the fastest growing sectors of the US economy. CompTIA’s recent research study, The Health Care Market: Insights and Opportunities, confirms that a range of opportunities exist for IT firms in this space. However, the health care market is not without its unique needs and challenges. IT executives seeking to enter or grow their health care market business are wise to do their homework, and proactively plan for the possibility of facing their own Kobayashi Maru.

The key findings of the CompTIA research include:

•         Health care providers express satisfaction (66% net satisfaction rate) with the technology in use in their practice. IT dissatisfaction stems from a number of factors, but the main reasons revolve around product reliability, product functionality (aka failure to meet user needs) and poor customer service/product support.

•         The data indicates IT firms are generally doing a good job meeting the needs of the health care market. Among health care providers using an IT firm (e.g. VAR, solution provider, etc.) satisfaction rates highest for the firm’s technical expertise, reliability and customer service. Satisfaction slips with speed of work and costs.

•         In addition to reliability, health care providers seek a great user experience with technology. Consider: health care providers using an EMR system rate complexity/operational difficulty as the top source of their dissatisfaction with their EMR package.

•         Thirty-eight percent of health care providers say they delayed or cancelled IT purchases or projects due to the down economy. This suggests a possible sizable backlog of IT projects that may proceed as health care providers become more comfortable with a stabilizing economy. Over the next 12 months, health care providers are most likely to invest in e-prescription systems, electronic medical record systems, and systems to facilitate digital note-taking/recording of information during exams.

•         The top priorities of health care providers include: growing their practice and reducing costs. IT investments rate, on average, as a middle priority. The take-away: IT firms will be most successful when they clearly connect IT investments to cost reduction and improved efficiency.

CompTIA’s The Health Care Market: Insights and Opportunities research study was conducted among both IT companies, including VARs, hardware/software firms, manage service providers, solution provider and others, that do business in the health care market and health care providers, including doctors, dentists, nurses, office managers and others. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members. See the member only area of CompTIA.org or contact research@comptia.org for more details.