3. There’s a disconnect between effective IT and new IT. Suennen referenced a panel at the MedTechVision Conference to explain the disconnect between products that prove their effectiveness and the desire to introduce more and more IT into the market. “A key takeaway from this panel was the rising tension between payers’ desire to reimburse only for new products that improve health outcomes, and manufactures’ desire to bring new technology into the market, often long before there is a body of evidence that proves efficacy,” wrote Suennen.  And this disconnect between medtech buyer and seller, Suennen noted, is one of the most problematic issues facing the industry today. “Much of the discussion centered around how differently payers, providers, and product purveyors define ‘lower cost’ and what standards are used when it comes to innovations that promise to address the rising tide of healthcare inflation,” wrote Suennen. “This included both how payers and providers think about the return on investment they get from adopting new technologies, as well as what medtech purveyers take into account when deciding which products are worth bringing to market.”

[See also: Cost-consciousness means unsettled future for imaging equipment service providers, vendors.]

4. Lack of security is costly. By now, we know protecting against health data breaches is key, and the consequences of forgoing these measures can be costly. A report released by ID Experts and Ponemon Institute, found data breaches in US healthcare organizations cost providers more than $6 billion a year and were most likely a result of employee actions, third-party error, and lost or stolen devices. Suennen noted in her blog the last instance was the biggest problem and, according to the study, some of the nation’s largest healthcare organizations aren’t trying very hard to solve this problem. “In fact, according to the study, most provider institutions aren’t even making patient privacy and data security a priority,” Suennen wrote. “In the press release about this study, it was noted that 70 percent percent of hospitals said that protecting patient data is not a top priority and 67 percent reported having less than two staff members dedicated to data protection management.” 

Follow Michelle McNickle on Twitter @Michelle_writes