US Healthcare Leaders Want Communications Providers with Cloud Expertise

Spectrum Enterprise Reveals Priority ‘Hot Topics’ for US Healthcare Providers

At the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society’s Annual Conference and Exhibition (HIMSS 2017), Spectrum Enterprise, a national provider of scalable, fiber-based technology solutions, announced results from a new healthcare study revealing the priorities and challenges for US healthcare providers in the digital age.

The Market Strategies International (MSI) study, commissioned by Spectrum Enterprise, indicates the growing influence of digital technologies on the patient experience, with key priorities around compliance and security. Eighty-three percent of managers in healthcare organizations stated a positive patient experience was a high or moderate priority for their organization, an 11 percent increase from 2016, while HIPAA compliance is a priority for 82 percent of respondents.

The MSI study, “2017 Healthcare Priorities, IT Impacts and Plans,” surveyed more than 300 IT and business decision makers from healthcare organizations to investigate the use of IT and telecommunication services by US healthcare providers.

Key findings include:

• The importance of communications partners having expertise in healthcare increased by 10 percent from 2016.
• The importance of cloud services in streamlining patient services and efficiencies grew 28 percent from 2016, with 95 percent indicating they currently use cloud services.

“As the healthcare industry has rapidly shifted from a traditional fee-for-service approach to one based on quality and outcomes, a wide variety of factors—regulatory reforms, industry consolidation and a proliferation of new technologies—have prompted a fundamental business model shift,” said Theresa Dudley, Healthcare Vertical Programs Manager, Spectrum Enterprise. “From family doctors and the nation’s largest healthcare organizations to the patients themselves, every citizen has been affected by these changes. Our latest study shows greater connectivity, collaboration and specialization across communications and IT service providers will continue to deliver innovation that improves patient care and their experience with healthcare providers.”

To this end, Spectrum Enterprise also contributed to the E-Patient Scholarship & Travel Fund. Developed by the Society for Participatory Medicine, a not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting the concept of participatory medicine, the fund provides financial assistance to help patients with their travel-related expenses to HIMSS17 and other industry conferences.

Healthcare providers can learn more about Spectrum Enterprise’s healthcare solutions at HIMSS17 booth # 5287 or by visiting enterprise.spectrum.com/healthcare and, for real-time #HIMSS17 updates and news, follow @SpectrumEntUS on Twitter.