Becker's Hospital Review

38 CIO / HEALTH IT Healthcare IT spend balloons By Laura Dyrda H ealthcare providers and payers increased their IT spend in the last year and many see additional budget bumps in the future, according to a report compiled by KLAS and Bain & Co. e report surveys 150 healthcare provider and payer executives across the U.S. More than half of providers said soware and technology investments were in the top three priorities for their organizations, and around 80% indicated their IT budgets increased in the last 12 months. e top five soware and digital technology priorities for providers this year include: 1. Infrastructure and services (with cybersecurity) 2. Clinical workflow optimization 3. Data platforms and interoperability 4. Revenue cycle management 5. Patient engagement EHRs were No. 6 on the list and telehealth was No. 8. e top pain points for new technology were costs, EHR integration and streamlined data access. e leaders surveyed also cited interoperability and cybersecurity vulnerability as big challenges for new technology integration. "Despite a bias toward 'good enough' solutions from current EHR suppliers, most providers remain open to buying solutions from other vendors," states the report. "is occurs especially in categories that deliver high ROI or that feature rapid innovation. In these circumstances, providers will oen consult their EHR vendor's product roadmap before selecting a third-party solution and cite EHR integration as a key purchase criterion." Generative AI was also top of mind for provider IT leaders, with around three-quarters of the leaders feeling optimistic about their organization's implementation. Many provider organizations have begun piloting generative AI applications focused on clinical documentation and support tools, according to the report, with promising early results. But there are challenges, with most health systems still developing governance for AI and new regulatory concerns arising. e top barriers for generative AI as cited by providers were: 1. Regulatory and legal consideration:43% 2. Resource constraints: 40% 3. Accuracy, safety and hallucinations: 39% 4. Lack of technical expertise: 33% 5. Cybersecurity risk: 32% "Amid diverse approaches to IT investment, healthcare providers and payers are doubling down on their commitment to investing in IT solutions, with a renewed focus on cybersecurity. Providers grapple with budget challenges and the need to integrate new solutions with EHRs and other suites. To address these obstacles, they are concentrating on solutions that offer clear, rapid ROI and that have proven integration," states the report. e Change Healthcare ransomware attack early this year also affected IT budgets. Around 70% of providers said they were affected by the incident and 44% reported auditing internal systems. Nearly half also audited current vendors and 38% said their organizations increased cybersecurity soware spending. "While cybersecurity was already top of mind for most organizations, they are allocating greater efforts and spending to this area, including auditing internal systems and third-party solutions and building redundancy to mitigate future risks," according to the report. n CIO pay continues to climb By Giles Bruce C IO pay continues to rise as IT chiefs move higher within their organizations and have to understand emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, CIO reported. Compensation for CIOs and chief technology officers has climbed by over 7% since 2023 and more than 20% since 2019, according to data from IT recruitment firm Heller Search Associates cited in the Sept. 9 story. Median CIO pay is $196,000 at large organizations and $176,000 at midsized enterprises, per tech consultant Janco Associates. That includes an increasing number of retention bonuses. "The strategic importance of technology leadership has never been greater, especially as organizations attempt to tackle information security, artificial intelligence, cloud transformations, etc.," Craig Stephenson, North American managing director of technology and digital officers at consulting agency Korn Ferry, told the news outlet. More than half of CIOs now report directly to the CEO, according to Heller Search Associates data cited in the article. Five years ago, at least 60% of CIOs reported to lower-level leaders. In turn, tech chiefs' pay is now catching up to CFOs', per Matt Richard, CIO of the Laborers' International Union of North America. "I would argue that the person running all of the technology has a far deeper understanding of the day- to-day operations of an organization than the person in charge of the money," Mr. Richard told the publication. n

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