HIS market ‘near saturation’: Frost

The Hospital Information Systems Market in Europe is reaching saturation point and vendors will need to find new revenue streams in the future, analyst Frost and Sullivan has concluded.

Its latest research says that most hospitals in Europe now have some kind of information in place, even if very few have “fully integrated and functional Hospital Information Systems installed.”

The research estimates that the adoption rate for HIS solutions varies from 73% in Italy to 95% in Scandinavia, and that market revenues are likely to rise modestly from $3.4 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2008 to $4.26 billion (€3 billion) in 2015.

It says this growth will be driven by governments and regulatory authorities anxious to see more automation in healthcare. But it adds: “The growth rate in the market is considerably lower because of the decreasing number of end users year after year.

“Additionally, the market’s penetration rate has almost reached its saturation level. Currently, annual maintenance and the replacement of systems are the main sources of revenues for vendors.

"Future revenues will also mainly depend on recurring revenues from annual support and maintenance and the replacement of systems.”

Frost and Sullivan advise that private and non-profit hospitals are a potential area for growth, since they tend to make less use of information systems than their public counterparts.

It says simple, low-cost systems will be needed for these sectors, which might be supplied on a hosted or application service provider basis. However, the report says that inflexible, complex systems are a problem across the sector, “reducing the utilisation rates of HIS solutions among hospital staff.”

Link: Frost and Sullivan