Healthcare firms to spend $1.08 b on IT

Mumbai: Healthcare providers in India are expected to spend $1.08 billion on IT products and services in 2014, a four per cent increase over 2013.
This forecast by Gartner includes spending by healthcare providers (including hospitals and hospital systems, ambulatory service and physicians' practices) on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.
The largest
IT services, which includes consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, will be the largest overall spending category throughout the forecast period, the global research and analyst firm said.
It is expected to reach $276 million in 2014, up from $266 million in 2013 – with the consulting segment growing by 8 per cent, it added.
Internal services
Internal services will achieve the highest growth rate amongst the spending categories – forecast to be 18.5 per cent in 2014.
Internal services refer to salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organisation.
Software will achieve a growth rate of six per cent to reach $101 million this year, up from $95 million in 2013, led by growth in vertical specific software (software applications that are unique to a vertical industry. These are standalone applications that are not modules or extensions of horizontal applications).