Becker's Hospital Review

65 CIO / HEALTH IT Survey: Reimbursement Is No. 1 Barrier to Telehealth Expansion By Jessica Kim Cohen T he No. 1 barrier healthcare organizations cite as a hindrance to expanding their telehealth programs is reimbursement, according to a joint report out of KLAS Research and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. For the report, KLAS Research and CHIME surveyed C-suite executives and managers from 104 hospitals and clinics with established telehealth programs about patient and provider experiences. The telehealth programs took a range of forms, including telespecialty consultations, scheduled patient-fo- cused visits and on-demand consumer-focused visits. Here are the top factors respondents said limit their ability to expand telehealth programs. 1. Reimbursement: 59 percent 2. Cost/resources: 34 percent 3. Patient/provider awareness/education: 25 percent 4. Licensing/regulation: 20 percent 5. High-speed internet access: 6 percent n 54% of Americans Think Their Data Is Safe From Hackers: 4 Survey Insights By Julie Spitzer E ven though a majority of Americans (82 percent) agree cy- berattacks are more of a threat now than they were five years ago, 54 percent feel their data is safe from hackers, according to a ReportLinker survey. The technology company asked 539 Americans about their per- spectives on data security and cyber risk. Here are four survey insights. 1. Fifty-nine percent of Americans feel most vulnerable to cyber- attacks on their desktop or laptop, while 25 percent feel smart- phones are most vulnerable. 2. Respondents feel hackers are mainly targeting individuals (47 percent), the corporate world (35 percent) and governments (17 percent). 3. Seventy-eight percent of respondents use encryption or pri- vacy tools, including strong passwords (52 percent), firewall (45 percent) and different passwords (41 percent). 4. The plurality of respondents (35 percent) use Google Drive for cloud storage, followed by Apple iCloud (27 percent). n Global Telemedicine Market to Experience 16.5% Annual Growth Rate Through 2023 By Anuja Vaidya T he global telemedicine market is anticipated to experience rapid growth over the next six years, according to a Market Research Future report. Here are five market trends. 1. The market is expected to grow at a compound an- nual growth rate of 16.5 percent from 2017 to 2023. 2. Factors driving the market include an increased demand for healthcare services in rural areas and a rise in government initiatives. 3. However, the high installation cost of the telemed- icine technology solutions may limit market growth in developing nations. 4. North and South America currently account for the largest share of the telemedicine market. 5. The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period, due to a rising geriatric population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and developing healthcare in- frastructure. n US Adds 3.2k IT Jobs in September: 4 Things to Know By Julie Spitzer T here were 3,200 new jobs added to the IT sector in Sep- tember, according to a CompTIA analysis. e "CompTIA IT Employment Tracker," which Comp- TIA issues monthly, includes aggregated IT-specific job data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here are four things to know about IT job growth in September. 1. e new positions included: 4,200 in IT and soware services; 300 in data processing, hosting and other services; and 3,000 in computers, electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. 2. For the year, 106,600 net new jobs have been generated in the IT and soware services category. 3. However, a number of positions were lost in telecommu- nications (1,900 jobs) and information services (2,400 jobs). 4. Employers added an estimated 105,000 IT occupations in September. n

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