NEW DELHI – Healthcare IT spending in India is expected to grow from US$274.2 million in 2009 to US$ 609.5 in 2013, growing at a CAGR of 22% from 2009-2013, according to the latest report from Springboard Research.
The report entitled “IT in the Healthcare Industry - Emerging Trends and Market Opportunities in India” revealed that hardware accounted for the largest proportion of total IT spending in the healthcare vertical with 55% share, followed by software and IT services at 25% and 20%, respectively in 2009.
“The spending on basic computing products is expected to increase over the next five years, as hospitals build and upgrade their IT infrastructure,” noted Tulika Sheel, Analyst, Vertical Industries at Springboard Research.
“Moreover, with new and upcoming applications such as telemedicine and e-prescriptions penetrating the healthcare vertical in India, IT investments on software would further increase with a focus on integrated billing and online availability of patient records across hospitals,” Sheel added.
The Springboard Research report found that 23% of the healthcare respondents who currently use or plan to use cloud computing cited “reduced hardware infrastructure costs” as well as “simplified resource and server provisioning” as the primary reasons for adoption.
Though cloud/SaaS applications help healthcare enterprises in reducing their operating costs, the high initial investment, integration with existing systems and lack of knowledge hinder the adoption.
According to the report, HIS is the largest IT solution implemented for healthcare which drives majority of the tier 1 private enterprise investments. As high as 94% of respondents cited implementing HIS, while 85% of the respondents mentioned having invested on clinical information system, patient management system and laboratory information.