Health IT spending on pace to top $34.5B

Healthcare IT spending will top $34.5 billion in North America in 2014, according to a new report by research firm Technology Business Research. The Hampton, N.H.-based firm attributes the spending to regulatory mandates' demand for modernization of infrastructure to meet new healthcare guidelines, according to an announcement, and lays out how the money will be spent.

"The wide variety of regulatory mandates and changes coming into force in the near term in the U.S. magnifies the pressure on healthcare providers, commercial payers and public sector agencies to maximize the value and ROI of their IT spend to meet these requirements," TBR healthcare analyst Joseph Walent said in the announcement. "Health IT vendors able to recognize the IT spending habits of the market segments, and adjust accordingly, will be best positioned to secure market share."

For the report, TBR interviewed 25 IT decision makers across the C-Suite. The more than 30 vendors covered in the report include: Accenture, Cerner, Citrix, HP, GE Healthcare, Lawson, IBM, McKesson, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.com.

Health IT spending is up across the board. In April, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' $152.7 billion budget request for 2014 included $3.683 billion for IT projects, the largest increase in IT spending among government agencies.

Meanwhile, a report from Mercom Capital Group published in July revealed that venture capital funding in the healthcare IT sector continued to grow rapidly in the Q2 of 2013, with $623 million raised. There were 168 funding deals in Q2, compared to 104 the previous quarter, and 163 total in 2012 totaling $1.2 billion.

To learn more:
- read TBR's announcement of the report