Consultancies and IT services vendors face uncertainty in a shift to data and automation for 2019

As we start the final three months of 2018, TBR’s Professional Services Practice (PSP) has begun wrapping up analysis on the year as a whole and thinking more about what 2019 will bring, specifically in the areas of healthcare IT services, data management and consulting. Top-of-mind issues for TBR’s clients and the PSP analysts reflect today’s driving trends and set the stage for the next few years.

Now: Cloud, competition and emerging tech uncertainty unsettle HITS vendors

TBR’s healthcare IT services (HITS) practice has noted rising interest in electronic health record (EHR) systems and other health IT solutions, for example, patient data storage and application hosting in the cloud, tempered only by ingrained concerns about data privacy and security. EHR-centric companies aggressively cross-selling emerging solutions to their existing installed base of EHR clients have simultaneously captured new EHR work in the vast white space of latent demand for EHR systems outside the U.S. Complementing those efforts, increased cloud adoption generates opportunities for systems integrators to digitally transform payer, provider and life sciences organizations alike. For example, community hospitals eager to digitize and better connect with other providers in the healthcare ecosystem have become a growth engine for many HITS vendors, a trend that favors small-scale EHR providers, especially those that have pivoted to cloud, compelling leading vendors to scale down flagship EHR platforms and adopt small- to mid-market deployment models.

TBR closely monitors and analyzes the impacts to the business models for key HITS vendors as new pressures compel a shift toward different clients and markets, including the following development:

• Will cloud-based EHRs, infused with automation analytics for care and administrative processes, artificial intelligence (AI) for genomics-informed medicine, machine learning and telemedicine become more commonplace?
• How will executives at HITS vendors approach retrofitting existing EHR systems with these emerging solutions, in addition to integrating human-centered design into new EHR platforms?