The healthcare industry is growing faster than any other sector in today's economy and healthcare ERP solutions are playing an integral role in this growth. According to recent studies, the healthcare ERP marketplace is growing at a rate of nine percent annually, far outpacing the growth of any other industry tracked by CPAs. As such, service providers are realizing the advantages of ERP in healthcare by moving data off their existing legacy systems and onto a single streamlined platform. The healthcare industry is one of the few industries that have seen steady increases in its utilization of information technology across all levels of the supply chain. However, healthcare ERP solutions still face many challenges, such as integration issues between various applications and providers still looking for more efficient ways to consolidate internal systems and improve collaboration. There are also concerns about the security of electronic health information which has increased due to recent developments in the industry. One of the challenges that must be addressed in the healthcare ERP implementation is how to move the information from legacy computing systems into a cohesive network that will allow the entire database to be accessed in real-time. One of the largest obstacles is the transfer of patient records between local practice and chain of command locations. HIPAA regulations do not allow for patient records to be transferred outside of the private sector, but there are solutions that can bypass HIPAA compliance and still allow the entire database to be accessed. Some physicians want to create a virtual private system so that when patients come into their offices they are able to access their own personal healthcare information. Health care providers must also address issues with the current aging of patients and finding ways to keep these individuals out of nursing home facilities, which may be the impetus for increased utilization of HCAE (healthcare information centers) software.
Another challenge in implementing healthcare ERP systems is how to stay on top of changes in technology and medical practices. Healthcare organizations have invested heavily in information technology in the last decade and the rapid adoption of electronic medical records has created additional challenges. Most healthcare organizations have yet to fully utilize their IT investment. Organizations should also be concerned with how to grow their digital portfolio so that they are prepared to deal with new healthcare technologies as they emerge. Implementing large ERP applications will require significant additional resources from an organization's IT department in order to successfully implement large scale healthcare medical systems.
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