HIPAA Compliance Government mandate tops technology trends

by David Orenstein freelance writer

Web schmeb, HIPAA is hipper. That’s the attitude of the healthcare industry this year, according to the 12th Annual Health Information and Management Systems Society Leadership Survey. The Internet and other technologies are no contest for a major government mandate.

The HIMSS annual survey of hundreds of technology managers in healthcare organizations is one of the best gauges of technology trends in the provider community.

HIPAA compliance will be the biggest business issue the healthcare industry will face in the next two years, say 77 percent of the managers. Over the next 12 months, 57 percent say HIPAA compliance will be a top priority, compared to 45 percent who put a high priority on deploying Internet technology. In the 2000 survey, the Internet beat out HIPAA, but that was when the Web was still hot and there was still time to get rolling on HIPAA. Now people are boning up on the regulations (29 percent consider themselves “very knowledgeable,” compared to only 13 percent last year) and more than half have begun to install new security technologies such as digital certificates or biometric devices, such as fingerprint readers.

As providers focus on compliance, at least the money appears to be available. Despite a barely viable economy and an average net profit margin of only 1.8 percent at hospitals in 2000, more than one third of managers say they are certain their budgets will increase this year. Another third say they probably will get more money. Only 5 percent say they are sure to see a cut.

With whatever money is left, other major healthcare technology projects will inch forward. For example, organizations slowly are adopting Computer Patient Records systems. So far, 13 percent of organizations have fully operational CPR systems, 29 percent have begun installation, and 24 percent have developed a plan to do so. In fact, every major category of healthcare application seems less important to managers than it did in 2000. Only 50 percent believe that Web-based applications are important this year, compared to 70 percent who believed that way last year.

None of this is to say that HIPAA will consume technology activity, but other efforts clearly are in its shadow. Actually, this is not bad. Good security practices and technology will provide a foundation for implementing other technologies more safely.

The biggest future technology trend may be making physicians more mobile. The idea of going on rounds with a portable PC that is tapped wirelessly into the hospital network, or simply having a PDA in the exam room of a small practice, is catching on. Fifty percent of technology managers say they will adopt wireless Internet devices within two years, up from 29 percent last year. Similarly, 47 percent hope to adopt hand-held PDAs, such as Palm Pilots, within two years, up from 25 percent last year. Strong interest in speech recognition (46 percent this year compared to 20 percent last year) also will give physicians new-found freedom in the workplace.

And while the Web no longer is the top attention-getter, it hardly is being ignored. Managers are enthusiastic about adding capabilities to their organizations’ Web sites. Most sites now are nothing more than marketing and recruiting brochures. For example, only 8 percent allow for patient scheduling, only 2 percent allow patients to access medical records, and only 3 percent facilitate transactions with managed care. Within two years that will change radically, managers say, when 42 percent expect to enable patient scheduling, 29 percent will allow patients access to records, and 21 percent will transact with managed care entities.

The survey, sponsored by Dell Computer and Superior Consultant Co, is at www.superiorconsultant.com/himss. If you want to know where the industry seems to be headed, let this be your guide.

David Orenstein is a technology and business writer in Silicon Valley. If you'd like to learn more about a certain computer topic, e-mail him at davealli@home.com.