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May 09, 2008
Report: Financially Stressed Hospitals Turning to Wi-Fi
By Strained by inadequate government reimbursement rates and rising labor costs, more and more hospitals are turning toward wireless technologies to operate efficiently, according to a new report.
Hospitals are leading a trend that’s seen wireless sales in health care grow at an annual rate of 23 percent since 2005, according to “Wireless in Healthcare 2008,” a report from New York City-based Kalorama Information.
In 2007, the figure reached $2.7 billion, according to the report, and could reach $9.6 billion by 2012.
Bruce Carlson, Kalorama’s publisher, said more and more hospitals are ear-marking chunks of their future budgets to wireless development.
“In 2003, 25 percent of U.S. hospitals had wireless,” Carlson said. “That figure will be somewhere between 80 and 90 percent in 2010.”
Hospitals are benefiting from WiFi
capability in diverse ways, officials say.
capability in diverse ways, officials say.According to Kalorama, today’s clinical environment is highly mobile. Medical personnel need fast information they can act on. A shortage of nurses and physicians creates pressure on hospitals to use staff more productively. Implementing WPAN-enabled PDA units, RFID wands, and other wireless technologies will help fewer nurses and doctors serve a growing number of patients in a more effective and efficient manner, while reducing errors and costs, according to the report.
Increasingly, today’s U.S. hospitals are facing a dilemma where only the financially strong can survive.
Researchers say the number of those has fallen by 20 percent in the last 30 years, from more than 7,000 in 1975 to 5,747 in 2007.
Staff shortages, notorious shortfalls in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, unpaid bills, increased scrutiny for medical errors, and rising administrative and energy costs are squeezing the health care institutions, experts say.
To view Kalorama’s full report, go to http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Wireless-Healthcare-Bluetooth-1614105/. The study includes product reviews, market forecasts, company profiles and eight case studies of wireless technologies in action in the world of health care.
The report costs $4,100 to download online, according to Kalorama’s Web site.
Michael Dinan is a TMCNet Editor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
