It appears that healthcare IT is becoming as important to the health sector as medical devices, clinical diagnostics, and biotech products. A recent post on The Health Care Blog notes that HIT applications have begun to appear on the Cleveland Clinic Top 10 list of what their leadership feel will be the most significant advances in medicine. Author Lisa Sunnen also notes that
“Venture capital is often a leading indicator of what will make an appearance on the radars of key opinion leaders in the medical field down the line, as clinicians and healthcare management executives sit at the end of the pipeline receiving the fruits of venture-backed endeavors.”
and
“Over the last 12 months I have been contacted by at least 5-6 separate venture funds that traditionally have avoided HIT and put all their chips down on the biotech and medical device sectors. Each of them is now seeking relationships in and knowledge about the HIT field and has stated their intention to expand their investment focus into this growing area.”
So, given the appearance of HIT applications on a list of medical advances and the apparent growing interest of VC’s in HIT, there is a case to be made that HIT is moving from a “nice to have” to a “must have” in the medical field.
Mike
