BOSTON—October 17, 2022— While COVID 19 posed a challenge to providers in more ways than one, provider organizations have emerged from the pandemic and are now taking stock of the software solutions they’ll need in the long term; determining where and how to invest. Partnering together, KLAS Research and Bain & Company today released their 2022 Healthcare Provider IT Report, highlighting what software investments providers are prioritizing over the next year, how they’re evaluating in vendors in a post-Covid world, and the key implications for providers, software players, and investors in this new period of disruption.

“We saw COVID 19 stretch providers in innumerable ways, and now coming out of the pandemic, we are seeing many providers double down on software investments.”, said Eric Berger, a partner at Bain & Company. “45% of providers accelerated software investments over the past year. Market dynamics like clinician shortages and inflation are playing a critical role as providers look for solutions that improve productivity and alleviate labor needs. However, there is also a broad recognition that Covid forever changed care delivery, making software more critical than ever.”

The healthcare information technology (HCIT) space has long been both attractive and a necessity for investors. Despite macroeconomic storm clouds, this report explores why healthcare IT remains a top 3 strategic priority for almost 40% of providers and a top 5 priority for nearly 80%. Revenue cycle management (RCM), security and privacy, patient intake/flow, clinical systems, and telehealth are flagged to be the most strategically important categories for provider’s software investments in the coming year.

“In addition to seeing an increase in software investments in the next year, our research is also informative about how providers are navigating the vendor landscape,” said Taylor Davis, president at KLAS Research. “More than 50% of providers are struggling with the flood of offerings in the market, according to our research. To address their concerns, providers are increasingly look to existing vendors with proven solutions before considering offerings from new vendors – especially their electronic medical records (EMR) providers – and some are making plans to streamline the number of third-party software solutions in their tech stacks over the next year.”

The post Covid-19 environment is causing providers to make changes both momentous and small with some organizations adopting multiple systems to keep pace with the changes; others have pressed pause to take stock of where they need to invest their time. As we enter this new disruptive era there are clear implications and they are touching all involved. From healthcare providers taking a newfound look at software investments, vendors fine tuning their current GTM models and investors paying a keen eye to what themes will continue to emerge in the industry, more insights can be found in our 2022 Healthcare Provider IT report.

Editor's Note: For more information or interview requests please contact: Dan Pinkney, Bain & Company, tel. +1 646 562 8102, email: dan.pinkney@bain.com