You and your peers are likely to boost your health information technology (IT) spending this year, according to a May 2011 study by RNCOS Industry Research Solutions, a private market research company. Health IT spending is projected to hit $40 billion -- with a "B" -- in 2011, driven by massive growth in electronic health records (EHRs) and mobile health applications, the study claims.
The journey to the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code set is also a driving factor, according to RNCOS. On the EHR side, growth in software sales is the highlight: health software spending jumped 20.5% from 2010 to 2011, and is projected to reach $6.8 billion by year's end.
The market for mobile health applications, typically used on smartphones, is estimated to reach $2.1 billion by the year's end, according to the study. The applications range from patient programs that measure blood pressure and calories to physician-oriented utilities that can look up drug interactions.
Despite the wide diversity in the age of physicians, 72% of U.S. physicians use smartphones and more than 20% own iPads -- the tablet PCs from Apple -- RNCOS found.