The worldwide market for Hospital Information Systems (HIS) is positioned for significant growth in the coming years, according to a new study from GlobalData. 

The global market is forecast to exceed $18 billion by 2016, after growing at a compound annual rate of 13 percent from its $7.8 billion valuation in 2009.

That growth is primarily driven by hospitals that stand to receive government reimbursements, as they try to improve care and increase workflow efficiency with information technology. Overall, the study shows, hospitals strongly believe that adopting HIS will greatly increase efficiency and reduce medical errors, thus improving quality of care.

The electronic medical records (EMR) segment is by far the largest segment in the HIS market – valued at $3.4 billion in 2009 and expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.3 percent over the next seven years.

Practice management is the second largest segment, valued at $1.2 billion in 2009 and growing at a CAGR of 10.8 percent over the same period. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Pharmacy Information Systems (PIS) and Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) are projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.1 percent, 9.7 percent and 10.6 percent respectively.

Evidence has increasingly shown that the current hospital systems are not delivering sufficiently safe, high-quality, efficient and cost-effective healthcare, and that computerization, with EMR at the center, is effectively the only way forward, according to the study.

As a result the past decade has seen the political impetus for change in most western countries become stronger, with physicians and healthcare organizations around the world looking to adopt more EMR technologies and major companies in the market vying for various collaborations to reach office-based physicians.

Governments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Finland are implementing plans to build integrated computer-based national healthcare infrastructures based around the deployment of interoperable EMR systems. Many of these countries aim to have EMR systems deployed for their populations within the next 10 years.

The HIS market in the United States was valued at $2.6 billion in 2009 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.3 percent over the next seven years. Economic stimulus provided by ARRA - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - is expected to increase the adoption rates to 90 percent for physicians and 70 percent for hospitals in the United States.

GE and Siemens are the two leading companies in the hospital information systems market, together accounting for roughly a quarter of the total space. GE Healthcare is the market leader, with 13 percent of market share, followed by Siemens Healthcare and Cerner Corp. with 12 percent and 9 percent respectively.