Electronic health record expenditures by nursing and residential care facilities — the fastest growing segment — are projected to increase 19% annually through 2024, according to Electronic Health Records: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports.
Many elder care facilities still need to implement EHR systems or upgrade them to the latest editions. In addition, the number of nursing and residential care facilities and their revenues are expected to continue growing as the elderly population expands.
The report found software vendors will benefit from ongoing regulatory requirements and continued growth in medical service spending, which will allow healthcare providers to install new EHR systems or replace older systems, and purchase ongoing hosting, maintenance and support services.
Medicare penalties for noncompliance with EHR meaningful use requirements will support implementation efforts by healthcare providers that have not implemented EHRs or those using noncompliant systems.
Overall, U.S. expenditures on EHRs are forecast to advance 6.5% yearly in nominal terms through 2024,
Freedonia acknowledged the COVID-19 crisis strained healthcare providers’ budgets, which may result in new or ongoing IT projects being delayed or cancelled.
