AHA: Economic troubles likely to slow IT investment

While they're not going away entirely, hospitals are likely to reconsider or postpone IT investments in the wake of the U.S. economy's struggles, according to a new survey by the American Hospital Association. Hospitals are considering cutting back or holding off on clinical projects (45 percent) and IT projects (39 percent), as well as facilities and equipment investments (56 percent).

Hospitals are cutting back, in part, because of troubles in the financial industry that have pushed up the costs of borrowing. Hospitals have seen interest payments on loans climb an average of 15 percent from July to September alone versus the previous year.

The AHA drew its data from survey results taken from 736 hospitals, along with information from web-based reporting system DATABANK.

To learn more about this survey:
- read this HealthcareITNews piece [1]

Related Articles:
HIMSS: Patient safety top reason for IT investment [2]
Study: Hospital execs stress IT investment for coming years [3]