Observations on 'Open Access', Health Industry Reports, & 2012 Predictions

I always look forward to the summary of findings in the latest research reports about Health IT systems from Gartner, Forrester, Chilmark, and others. They do great work, but I have to be satisfied with the summaries because I just can't afford to buy the complete reports for $3000-$5000. Like so many individuals and organizations around the world, I have to rely on the release of free and 'open access' reports. Links to examples of these can be found on Open Health News (OHN).

Having said that, the latest blog from Chilmark Research is out offering their findings and predictions for the healthcare technology markets in 2012. Once again, a good piece of work. Here are some highlights:

• They are seeing some modest success and adoption of EHRs as a result of the HITECH Act, but the preponderance of such success is at hospitals that already have had some form of an EHR system in place
• They are still not seeing wide-spread EHR adoption at the ambulatory care facility level, especially among smaller medical practices,
• There will be plenty more EHR sales in the year to come, but they also see EHR sales growth begin to plateau and level off by the end of 2012.
• They see far too many vendors in this market - over 300 EHR vendors alone.

These findings and predictions by Chilmark seem right on target. I have previously blogged about the large number of EHR vendors that have seen their products easily certified.  I also strive to let others know about the many high quality, free and open source EHR systems now available, especially for small practice, e.g. OpenEMR, OSCAR, OpenMRS.  Check out the COSI Open Health list of Open Source EHR Systems.

In any case, take the time to read their latest blog on predictions for the healthcare technology market in 2012 at Chilmark Research. You'll find it interesting. 

Add your observations and predictions about Health IT in 2012.