48.2% say blockchain, the decentralized record-keeping technology made famous by Bitcoin, is the most overhyped, but value FIHR.

Many healthcare chief information officers are paying attention to emerging digital technologies. But they have definite views on which emerging technologies are useful, which ones are hype and how they intend to use them, according to a new study of 56 healthcare CIOs from consulting and advisory firm Impact Advisors.

For example 48.2% say blockchain, the decentralized record-keeping technology made famous by Bitcoin, is the most overhyped. In contrast the emerging technology healthcare 50% of  CIOs see has having the most potential is Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, or FHIR, a standard for exchanging healthcare information electronically using application programming interface (APIs).

“Given the increasingly competitive health delivery landscape, there is now growing interest among some provider organization to expand and formalize internal innovation efforts,” says Impact Advisors, which is based in Naperville, Ill. “But change is happening at a very uneven pace.

Change is happening at a very uneven pace.

For about half of the CIOs (46.4%) improving internal operational efficiency was their top priority for using and emerging technology followed by enhancing the consumer experience at 26.8%, driving knowledge and discovery at 14.3% and improving care coordination with outside providers at 14.3%.

Healthcare CIOs also see significant barriers to implementing new digital healthcare technology, including their existing workload. 67.9% of CIOs list other priorities as being more important than rolling out a new technology. Other limiting factors include resource capacity (58.9%), funding (55.4%), lack of formal sponsorship from top executives (33.9%) and resource skills (26.8%). “There are a number of challenges that CIOs see as significant barriers,” the survey says.

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More than one-third of healthcare CIOs—35.7%—see their electronic health records vendor as being their primary partner in implementing new digital and data management applications, compared with 25% citing a healthcare technology startup company, 23.2% an established healthcare information technology company other than a medical records vendor, and 16.1% a technology vendor not currently in healthcare. “Many CIOs are looking externally to drive IT innovation by forming strategic partnerships with outside organizations,” says the report.

Other findings include:

  • Over the next two years, 43% of healthcare CIOs plan to establish more strategic partnerships
  • Only 14% of CIOs says their healthcare organization has established an information technology innovation center.

“The uneven pace of change could lead to further separation in the health delivery market,” the survey says.

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