IT Outsourcing Market Shifts as Providers Strive to Meet MU

With meaningful use now a strong factor in healthcare IT decision-making, providers are reevaluating the decision to outsource IT services to implement and/or demonstrate meaningful use of certified EMR technology. The latest report-IT Outsourcing: Better Service in a Shifting Market,from the Orem, Utah-based KLAS, takes a look at where IT outsourcing (ITO) firms are succeeding, how providers are approaching changing ITO needs, and what factors influence satisfaction with an ITO firm.

According to survey participants, increasing numbers of providers are turning to partial IT outsourcing with positive results -60 percent of the respondents that have engaged a firm for discrete IT services reported seeing more value for their IT dollars since outsourcing. Although there has been some movement from full to partial ITO, and even to no ITO as some providers have taken all IT services in-house, the firms' overall performance trends in almost all cases have improved since 2008.

CareTech, Dell, and Siemens ranked in both the partial and extensive ITO categories. CTGHS topped all other firms for partial ITO with a performance of 91.6, and CareTech came in first for extensive ITO at 93.0 and second for partial ITO at 83.6. Findings for Accenture, Allscripts (now Eclipsys), Anthelio, ACS, Cerner, CSC, McKesson, and Phoenix Health Systems were also included in the report.