Research Report: North American Health Care Provider Information Market Size & Forecast
ESG Research Report

Jan 12, 2011

Driven by such factors as increasing demand for services, new clinical treatments and technologies, and a complex regulatory environment, health care providers have become one of the largest consumers of data storage technology.


It was against this backdrop that ESG wanted to better understand the make-up of these large and growing data stores: What applications or IT services—whether clinical or administrative—account for the majority of this data? How rapidly is data associated with different applications growing? How will these trends change over time?


To help answer these questions, ESG embarked on a research study that would:

  • Develop a comprehensive market model and forecast that quantified the volume and growth rate of health care-related digital information among North American health care providers.
  • Include data on current and projected information volumes and growth rates in aggregate and also by North American Industry Classification System subsector, application type, and organization size class measured by both number of employees and number of beds (hospitals only).

The data and analysis presented in this report is grounded in a body of new primary research conducted by ESG with more than 100 health care providers. This research encompassed both a quantitative research component (i.e., a web-based survey of 115 hospitals and ambulatory care providers) and a qualitative research component (i.e., 12 in-depth interviews conducted with senior IT executives at hospitals and ambulatory care providers).


Both the quantitative and qualitative research components focused primarily on obtaining as much “real-world” data as possible with respect to current health care application usage, the amount of digital information (inclusive of primary, secondary/backup, and tertiary/archive data) associated with each of those applications, the annual rate respondent organizations were experiencing data growth for those applications, and respondent organizations’ overall data management policies and procedures. ESG also used this research as a venue to better understand the specific industry and/or technology trends driving data growth across different organizations and applications. All of the data collected during this phase were instrumental in allowing ESG to accurately populate its assumptions during the development of its market size and forecast model.

 

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