HIT Outsourcing in Rural Hospitals

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Introduction

Rural hospitals struggle to adopt health IT (HIT) innovations at the rate of larger hospitals for a variety of reasons. These reasons have been explored in several previous articles, however solutions have been less prevalent in the literature. A recent (2012) survey of rural hospitals begins to outline a framework for solving some of the barriers that rural hospitals face.

The Problem

Rural hospitals often struggle to stay financially viable while attempting to meet the standard of care set forth by their much larger counterparts. HIT is often seen as an elegant solution to both of these problems, as it is viewed as a money-saving endeavor while keeping healthcare quality at a maximum. However, rural hospitals struggle to implement HIT due to lack of resources, both financial and personnel. A study published by Johnson, et. al details a survey regarding attitudes on HIT outsourcing at these rural hospitals as a solution to these barriers of HIT implementation. This survey is based off a paper by Reddy, et. al proposing a model of hospital-to-hospital partnerships where rural hospitals partner with a larger hospital for HIT resources.