How CIOs can ensure budgets include room for innovation

Although the opportunity for innovation in the healthcare technology space is unlimited, the money for new projects and ventures often is not.

Chief information officers must stay within their budgets, and some providers have bigger pockets than others.

For that reason, some organizations are just "keeping the lights on" and the "basic wires and pliers consumes the entire budget." Kumar Chatani, CIO and executive vice president of New York-based Mount Sinai Health System, tells Becker's Health IT and CIO Review.

Meanwhile, at organizations that are doing well, the leadership team looks to IT to gain a competitive advantage, he adds.

Still, there are ways CIOs at any organization can safely spend money while making sure IT innovation is not forgotten, Chatani says. Most of the budget, about 80 percent, should go to IT support and infrastructure, he says. The other 20 percent, he adds, can be left open for emerging technologies that include mobile health, telemedicine and data efforts.   

In addition, as with most providers today, allotting money to IT security efforts is incredibly important, Chatani says. However, smaller facilities still look at their low budgets as an obstacle to securing data, FierceHealthIT previously reported.

At the same time, the confidence health IT leaders have regarding their ability to meet business demands is growing, according to a survey by Hanover, Maryland-based TEKsystems.

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