Challenges for IT in Healthcare 2022
2022 was and is an extraordinary year for IT departments in hospitals. The Hospital Future Act (KHZG), passed in 2020 by the federal government, was intended to support clinics in expanding their IT infrastructure. The billion-euro investment program promotes modern emergency capacities, digitalization, and IT security in healthcare. However, the implementation of KHZG projects is stalling and presenting facilities with challenges.
All IT departments in German hospitals typically have to implement their funding projects simultaneously. Added to this are additional telematics infrastructure projects, such as e-prescriptions and electronic patient records, regular projects, and normal IT operations. The healthcare business magazine kma (Klinik Management aktuell) explored how IT managers in clinics are dealing with the current situation in its online edition.
According to the survey, the biggest challenges in implementing the KHZG are:
- The current shortage of IT personnel
- Too few external consultants and IT service providers
- Supply bottlenecks for required hardware
- Delays due to high order volumes from service providers
- High bureaucratic effort (managing and tracking applications)
- The Digital Radar for measuring maturity levels
- High time and workload for IT employees
- Project deadlines until the end of 2024 make introducing new software difficult
No Improvement in Sight for 2023 and Beyond
Kma Online concludes that apparently all IT managers have long since gotten used to a large workload. Depending on how you look at it, 2022 was a horror year for some, not for others. However, everyone agrees that the coming years will be even more intense.
You can read the detailed article here.