Compass Intelligence

1. EHR Moves to the Top Priority Lists of Hospital and Healthcare CIOs.
   Electronic Health Records (or EMR), driven by the ARRA incentives, within healthcare practices and hospitals is expected to move to the top priority lists of CIOs.  With the adoption of EHR solutions, comes the need for network upgrades and optimization, infrastructure overhaul, security enablement, and bandwidth expansion.  These implementations will require the utmost attention to future IT planning and is become a critical factor when making IT decisions.  The push to implement EHR solutions and to modernize the current US healthcare system, is definitely expected to keep the CIO up for many nights in 2010.   
   
    
2. Health Care IT Staffing Gets  a Boost                                                                             
   With physician and nurse shortages climbing, technology is being seen as a way to reduce errors, improve patient care, and provide better point of care and access more timely information.  Healthcare IT workers are not only needed, but they are getting a boost from the Federal Government, with the latest announcement from the HHS providing $80 million in stimulus funding for Health IT training and education programs.  
   
    
3. Healthcare Information Exchanges Finally Pick up the Pace    
   Collaboration and the sharing of information steps up its game in Healthcare.  States have either already rolled out HIEs or will be in 2010.  Many states are still in the planning stages and have pushed HIE investment out into 2010 because of the recent economic conditions.  Those that have already made investments in HIE will began to optimize them and develop clear plans when it comes to sharing medical information and collaborating on the best in practice medical procedures and patient care.  The web and healthcare social networking are expected to become critical factors in improving information flow and sharing critical information. 
   
    
4. The $19 Billion in Health IT Stimulus Money will finally flow in 2010
   The year 2009 saw delays and heavy paperwork and since the ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) was announced, it has taken some time for funding to really flow into the hands of IT Managers and CIOs in hospitals and healthcare organizations.  Funding is expected to finally flow in 2010, and this means that IT projects and investments that have been put on hold will finally be implemented, yet priorities will need to be carefully evaluated. 
   
    
5. IT Vendors will Flock to Healthcare       
   IT, Telecom, and Technology vendors are looking at Healthcare as one of the top "industries" in terms of technology adoption and investments.  Since many of the recent funding and government "hitech" attention, Healthcare is taking center stage as an industry to develop solutions for, and to develop creative marketing plans to better target.  Most vendors are ramping up their plans for the Healthcare industry as we speak, and many are putting Healthcare at top of their list to focus on in the next 12 to 18 months.  Cox Business recently announced Healthcare as ONE of the top opportunities to drive revenue to the company.  Even Wal-Mart is getting into the game with an EMR solution for small healthcare practices.  Compass Intelligence expects many more announcements to be made in 2010.
   
   
   Other trends to look for in Healthcare next year include cloud computing, Mobile Healthcare and applications, and lastly cool technology tools and applications used in patient monitoring (vitals and more), remote/home healthcare, and virtual medicine.

Expectations are positive...

Already there are signs of improvement in this New Year - stocks are up, unemployment is down, ICT buyers expect to spend and more than 30% of managers expect to hire new employees over the next three months. All these "signs" set the stage for what could feel like a surge of growth. In truth, it will be the release of pent up demand as new budgets become available in 2010.

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Google has had a great past 30 days in terms of Android and partner announcements.  Now, T-Mobile, AT&T, Dell, Verizon Wireless, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Kyocera, and Sprint have all made announcements about partnering or selling Google "Android" smartphones.  The evolving and highly competitive smartphone market is exploding with new devices and even new market entrants like Dell.  Dell has already released a device in China, the Dell Mini 3i, and this week has announced its plans to develop multiple Android-based smartphones for AT&T.  Within the next few years, Compass Intelligence expects this to primarily affect the consumer wireless market.  In about 3 to 4 years, we do expect to see more business-oriented devices from Apple and other manufacturers.  For now, Android does not appear to be "enterprise-ready."

As computers and smartphones begin to look more and more alike with advances of smartphone features and the reduction sizes of laptops, now netbooks, Compass Intelligence expects these trends to continue and we will see multiple consumer-oriented and business handheld devices entering into the market over the next 5 years.  Trends such as embedded modems and wireless routers will be standard in cellphones, smartphones, and laptops/netbooks. The world of wireless is so exciting, and we will report more as we come across it.  Please share your thoughts on the market, we would love to hear from you!

Stephanie Atkinson, Managing Partner Compass Intelligence

Compass Intelligence Research on the Prepaid Wireless Market

 Compass Intelligence recently surveyed 10,011 mobile phone users regarding their plans to purchase new wireless devices.  Respondents were asked to indicate how many new devices would be post-paid and how many would be prepaid.  When adding a new device, 22% of respondents indicate they will add prepaid mobile. The most likely prepaid buyers in 2H09 will be those users with multiple devices. Business decision-makers in businesses of all sizes want more contract flexibility and are turning towards prepaid to not only lower short-term costs, but more importantly, lower their risk. 

Other highlights of the research are provided below:

• Enterprise Businesses account for nearly two-thirds (62.9%) of business wireless subscribers in 2009, and small businesses account for just over one-third of subscribers (37.1%). 
• While AT&T fairs well among the total wireless subscribers, the company’s strong hold is in smart phones and mobile broadband.
• Sprint’s market share among small company smart phone users (23%) is nearly twice that of total wireless subscribers (12%).
• Among the top perceptions associated with T-Mobile and Sprint, two-thirds are negative.
• The fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 saw the strongest growth in this market with an increase of more than 2 million subscribers each quarter.  
• The second quarter of 2009 experienced slower growth, with an increase of approximately 1.3 million, or 3%, over the previous quarter. The year over year growth jumps from mid single digit to 17%.

Back to School Sale!

Excerpt from a recent report titled: "Health Care Technology in 2009: A Look at the Hottest Tech Trends in Patient Care" - Click to buy the Report

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will change the health care industry as we know it, and create new opportunities for IT providers.  The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) is the part of the stimulus package that specifically addresses healthcare. It provides for $19 billion to be spent on health information technology, and the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). According to the House Committee on Ways and Means, the HITECH Act addresses four specific goals: 

·         “Requiring the government to take a leadership role to develop standards by 2010 that allow for the nationwide electronic exchange and use of health information to improve quality and coordination of care.

·         Investing $20 billion in health information technology infrastructure and Medicare and Medicaid incentives to encourage doctors and hospitals to use HIT [health information technology] to improve quality and coordination of care.

·         Saving the government $10 billion, and generating additional savings throughout the health sector, through improvements in quality of care and care coordination, and reductions in medical errors and duplicative care.

·         Strengthening Federal privacy and security law to protect identifiable health information from misuse as the health care sector increases use of Health IT." 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, within the next ten years, 90 percent of doctors and 70 percent of hospitals will be using comprehensive electronic health records as a result of the programs put in place by the HITECH Act. The legislation also establishes a process for developing standards for the nationwide electronic exchange of information between health providers by the end of 2009, and further establishes a certification process for health information technology products. Certification will be carried out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The legislation funds several areas of health care IT, including training, dissemination of best practices, telemedicine, inclusion of health information technology in clinical education, and State grants for promoting health information technology.

The Entrepreneur's Spirit:

Yes, SMB customers are also suffering in this difficult economic environment, but they are not defeated.  Entrepreneurs don’t give up easy…

When Compass Intelligence surveyed IT buyers in firms with <50 employees at the end of 2008 and then again at in 2009 regarding their expectations for the 2009 IT budget (how will it change over 2008 spending), most users  expected it to either stay the same or even increase:

•       Expecting a Decrease more respondents expect to see spending decrease this year, rising from 26% at the end of last year to 38% at the end of Q1 09.

•       Keeping it the Same the largest group of respondents expect spending to stay the same and this percent changes the least between the two periods. 

•       Expecting an Increase even during the midst of the worst part of this recession, roughly 20% of the small business decision-makers surveyed expect to spend more on tech this year. 

Kneko Burney, the President and Chief Strategist at Compass Intelligence, discusses recent highlights from our bi-annual Online Customer Experience research.  Small and Mid-sized businesses are the focus of this research and it explores some of the top tech and non-tech companies serving SMBs online.  Discussions and key highlights of this research includes a look at SMB online portals, ease of use, available content, learning resources, cool tools, and how the differing companies are successfully reaching SMBs in this tight economy.  Want to learn more?

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Posted By: Stephanie Atkinson, http://www.compassintelligence.com/

An excerpt from a recent Government IT report posted in April 2009...

"Particularly in our present era of the first tech-savvy President, how the Federal government spends money on IT will set the tone for how private industry spends on IT as well. Private IT spending will be influenced positively by several factors, including:

• An increasing focus on Federal IT modernization efforts

• Policies designed to promote innovation

• Stimulus spending that will afford private IT companies new opportunities to provision goods and services

In the federal arena, the stimulus spending bill is already starting to provide a big boost to IT spending as money is provided for a wide variety of projects. Federal spending on IT reached $129 billion in 2008, and will see increases in the mid single-digits through 2013, when spending will reach $159 billion. The largest category of Federal IT spending is in the telecom segment, which will receive a big boost due to new Federal policies regarding broadband. Telecom spending by the Federal government will reach $47 billion in 2009, ramping up faster than many other categories to reach $59 billion by 2013."

Written By: Dan Blacharski

VIEW THE FULL REPORT: Change Government: What does Obama mean for the IT industry?