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Analysis of the Spanish Healthcare IT Markets
Frost & Sullivan, Aug 2005
Decentralisation of Spanish Regions to Fuel Healthcare IT Investments
The transfer of power from the state to the different regional authorities has enabled them to make independent decisions related to healthcare IT infrastructure, thereby boosting investments. Moreover, with over 90.0 per cent of the hospitals still relying on legacy systems, which are difficult to integrate with new IT solutions, a complete revamp of IT solutions is expected. In addition, the concept of paperless hospitals is proving to be successful and this is likely to drive hospitals to invest in IT solutions. Certain regions such as Valencia are already considering the implementation of e-scheduling and e-prescribing. Overall market growth is expected to increase as IT solutions help reduce transcription costs, increase the efficiency of the utilisation of radiology and laboratory services and minimise adverse drug events. With the increasing uptake of clinical information systems, the Spanish healthcare IT market revenues are likely to increase from $220.0 million in 2004 to $332.0 million by 2008.
This Frost & Sullivan research service examines the Spanish healthcare IT market, segmenting it into legacy systems, patient administrative systems (PAS), enterprise electronic medical records (EMR) systems, primary care health records systems, order entry/appointment systems, picture archiving systems (PACS) and radiology information systems (RIS). The study analyses major industry challenges, market drivers and restraints, and potential threats faced by the market participants along with a comprehensive analysis of the market.
Healthcare IT Standards to Enable Easier Acquisition of IT Systems
Restricted hospital budgets are adversely affecting market growth. With public hospitals compelled to invite European tenders for investments above a certain level, the decision-making process involved in systems acquisition is a lengthy one, says the analyst of this study. Hence, it becomes more favourable to target the private sector. Additionally, while many regional authorities acknowledge the importance of healthcare IT solutions, the lack of initiative by some regions poses a challenge to market growth.
Clearly, there also exists a need for healthcare IT standards, as they stimulate competition, reduce costs, and also permit healthcare institutions to implement low-entry systems and gradually build up large-scale IT solutions. Besides this, standardised products will improve compatibility among medical applications and systems by allowing products from multiple vendors to exchange medical information. Standardised products are also easily replaceable and pose less risk compared to proprietary solutions.
New Entrants in the Market to Gain from Strategic Alliances with Local Industry Participants
The presence of large multinational, national and local companies has resulted in a highly fragmented and competitive market. Hence, it becomes vital to develop strategic alliances with other solution providers in order to benefit from their competencies, says the analyst. Maintaining a proper sales channel and ensuring reliability and high services levels are becoming increasingly important.
The need to develop primary healthcare has spurred regions such as Andalucia, Murcia and Extremadura to invest in projects to connect the primary and the secondary health centres. Encouraged by these trends, other regions are also likely to invest in such IT projects and this will further boost revenues in the Spanish healthcare IT market. In addition, as the importance of clinical information systems continues to grow, the increasing demand for EMR, PACS and RIS will fuel further market growth.
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