Change Offers New Opportunities and Challenges for Vendors

How familiar the sounds of the holidays. The chatter of visiting family members (some of whom I’ve not heard from since last year), the “cha-ching” of cash registers, and the classic Bing singing classic holiday tunes. Like clockwork, this festive season rings in old conventions that repeat themselves time and time again. Equally predictable is that even time-honored traditions may be subject to change under the persuasion of time itself.

The same can be said about healthcare. Its steady pace may at times see rapid change. For instance, increasing competition and evolving regulations are leading to fast growth in IT outsourcing. What's more, providers are now shifting a lot of their dollars and efforts to areas such as ICD-10 and Business Intelligence. Many are also beginning to engage in Health Information Exchange (HIE) with Meaningful Use Stage 2 recently announced. And that’s just for starters. With all this change, uncertainty abounds. Vendors and providers must align to achieve better healthcare. But which vendor will break away from the pack? Which vendor will slip behind? See how it all shakes out in the coming weeks when we release the 2012 Best in KLAS Awards Report for software and services.