Cyberattacks on health providers are increasing, telehealth technologies are becoming a key part of value-based care, and outside disruptors are making moves into the health care space.
These are some of the top digital health trends that health care executives say will impact the industry in 2019, according to a new report from the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM).
As health system leaders look ahead to the challenges and opportunities of the coming year, they are increasing their spending to defend against cyberattacks, expressing optimism about reimbursement for telehealth services, and feeling anxiety about Apple, Amazon and Google entering the health care space.
Those were among key findings in the report, “Top of Mind for Top Health Systems 2019,” which focuses three areas of health IT set to impact health systems in 2019: Cybersecurity, Telehealth, and Interoperability.
The findings are based on quantitative and qualitative surveys of C-suite executives at nearly 40 U.S. health systems. The research was conducted by the Health Management Academy in partnership with the CCM.
Key digital health trends
- Hackers and other cyber-criminals are stepping up their attacks on the health care industry, leading 87 percent of respondents to say they expect to increase spending on cybersecurity in 2019; no health system was expecting to decrease spending.
- Health IT leaders overwhelmingly expect government and commercial reimbursement to provide the majority of funding for telehealth services by 2022; internal funding and patient payments are expected to provide the majority of funding for telehealth in 2019.
- 70 percent of responding executives said they were “somewhat concerned” about big tech companies, such as Apple, Amazon and Google, disrupting the health care market; 10 percent were “very concerned.”
Download the report to learn more about how health systems are approaching cybersecurity, telehealth, and interoperability for 2019 and beyond through exclusive survey research and insights from health system leadership.
