Hospital CIOs rank EMRs and CPOE as their two most important IT projects over the next two years, while IT directors and managers place much more emphasis on replacing aging computers and locking down security, a new survey suggests.

The survey, commissioned by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by Bellevue, Wash.-based NewGrowth Consulting, interviewed 36 CIOs and 142 IT directors/managers at hospitals with at least 200 beds.

Among the CIOs, 58 percent said EMRs were among their most important projects in the coming 24 months, while 56 percent included CPOE at the top of their lists. Security is a priority for 47 percent of the CIOs. A substantial portion of this group also said bar-coded medication administration, hospital expansion, PC refresh and virtualization were important initiatives in the short term.

EMRs ranked seventh in the poll of IT managers, named a priority by just one-fourth of respondents. PC refresh topped their list, at 51 percent, while 42 percent of IT managers said security initiatives were among their most important projects. CPOE came in third, named by 37 percent of respondents.

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