Healthcare providers in India to spend $1 bn in 2013: Gartner

BANGALORE, INDIA: Health care providers in India will spend $1 billion US Dollars (USD) on IT products and services in 2013, an increase of 7 percent over 2012, according to Gartner, Inc.

This forecast includes spending by health care providers (includes hospitals and hospital systems, as well as ambulatory service and physicians' practices) on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

Says Anurag Gupta, research director at Gartner: ""IT services, which includes consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, will be the largest overall spending category through 2017 the forecast period within the health care providers sector. IT services is expected to grow 6.9 percent in 2013 to reach $276 million USD in 2013, up from $258 million in 2012 - with the consulting segment growing by 12.4 percent."

Internal services will achieve the highest growth rate amongst the spending categories - forecast to be 14.5 percent in 2013. Internal services refer to salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organization. The information services staff includes all company employees that plan, develop, implement and maintain information systems. Software will achieve a growth rate of 11 percent in 2013 to reach $98 million USD in 2013, up from $88 million in 2012, led by growth in vertical specific software (software applications that are unique to a vertical industry. These are stand-alone applications that are not modules or extensions of horizontal applications).

The Indian government plans to increase public spending on healthcare to target the dual burden of diseases: communicable and infectious diseases in the lower strata of population and lifestyle diseases within the affluent society. India has significant catching up to do with other developing countries in the health realm, and the government will keep encouraging the development of the private sector within secondary and tertiary care along with putting financial and manpower resources within the primary care sector through programs like the National Rural Health Mission.

"Hospital information systems, picture archiving and communications systems, electronic health records and mobile technologies will be high on the agenda. We expect to see providers benefit by offering cost effective business models which show quick returns on capital by leveraging the Nexus of Forces (cloud, mobility, big data and social) and improving patient coverage and quality of care. Growth of health insurance will also catalyze technology adoption in healthcare provider segments," said Gupta.

Further information on health care providers sector IT spending is available in the Gartner report, "Forecast: Enterprise IT Spending for the Healthcare Providers Market, Worldwide, 2011-2017, 3Q13 Update" and the vertical industries forecast, "Forecast: Enterprise IT Spending by Vertical Industry Market, Worldwide, 2011-2017, 3Q13 Update" The forecasts provide total enterprise IT spending, including internal spending and multiple lines of detail for spending on hardware, software, IT services, and telecommunications for vertical industries and 43 countries within seven geographies.