TAKEAWAYS FROM HIMSS 2013
Patrick Bohnenkamp
Chief Executive Officer
IT’S NO SECRET THAT HEALTHCARE’S INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY HAS LAGGED OTHER INDUSTRIES.
Banking, financial services, insurance, online commerce, and even manufacturing have outshined the healthcare industry for many years. While primary advancements and investments have been made around medical procedures and equipment, the ongoing struggle for the industry will be supporting the ever present belt tightening while continuing to be more efficient and effective for the customer’s sake. Traditionally the supply side of the house has taken the beating. The common approach has been to tackle those supplier which are at the top of the AP report and dig into the details. These details and top suppliers almost always reside on the traditional supply side of the spend.
As we learned at HIMMS 2013, this will not be the case in the future. Supporting technologies, investments in efficient technologies, increased demands on data security and storage as well as an overall investment in the technology of a healthcare organization are all key areas to derive savings. Often times when a technology boom hits an industry the stakes are high, the investments are great and the contracts are overlooked. In a mere 5 years, healthcare organizations are going to be looking back at the contracts they signed today and wonder how they ever got themselves into this mess. Simply put, technology investments are just like doctors…anyone would rather have the doctor that does 25 knee replacements a year doing their own knee replacement. Just as an organization should want a firm that does hundreds of software/hardware/services/maintenance/outsourcing contracts in the technology space doing their own contract and price negotiations. It’s no secret, experience pay dividends. Technology price and contract negotiations are not a black box, but something that can be learned over time. From the forefront of HIMMS 2013… the learning curve has started, are you using an expert?
Utilizing the experience and expertise of a long tenured market player can only enhance your results. Don’t overlook the assistance that’s out there, the vendors don’t, why should you?
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