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Consider This...Healthcare Observations by Ralph P. Fargnoli, Jr.
1/30/09
Will Healthcare I.T. Investment Really Help Our Economy?
Simply put, yes.
Increased productivity has, and always will be, a significant strategic reason why many healthcare organizations invest in information technology. But conventional wisdom has regarded I.T. investment as a way to reduce jobs or prevent the necessity to increase their workforce.
Yet, according to research conducted by IBM as presented to the Obama administration concerning recommendations for their stimulus plan, a $10 billion government investment in healthcare I.T. such as EHRs, improving the electrical grid and expanding broad-band access could create upwards of 900,000 jobs.
In our current economic downturn, I agree that few things are more important than healthcare I.T. investment to stimulate job creation, and just as important, provide a means for healthcare organizations to reign in their costs for increased productivity. This technology will allow improved economic activity from the creation of new services that such an investment would make possible.
Those healthcare organizations that either continue on with, or invest in new healthcare I.T. investments, will most likely not only be contributing to the wellbeing of the overall economy, but will themselves realize the benefits long after Go-Live. And this may coincide with an economic recovery, making them more competitively poised for the long-term.
Ralph P. Fargnoli, Jr.
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