MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Federal spending on healthcare technology will see slight increases at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in FY12, with budget drivers emphasizing information sharing, mobile computing, security, and shared services across almost every component organization. Total IT budget requests in FY12 will rise to $7.05 billion from $7.03 billion in FY11. The overall discretionary budgets at HHS are down, floating around the $80 billion mark.
These financial statistics and technology trends were unveiled at a HHS Breakfast Briefing hosted by immixGroup on December 15, 2011. immixGroup's Market Intelligence organization, which prepared the content of the briefing, provides actionable information that helps commercial technology manufacturers, resellers, and solution providers to identify relevant opportunities and do business with the Federal government. The briefing featured presentations from Tim Larkins, immixGroup Market Intelligence Consultant, and John Teeter, HHS Acting CIO.
Larkins noted in his presentation that HHS, under the leadership of Teeter and Director of the ONC Farzad Mostashari, will focus on information sharing, mobile computing, security, and shared services in the coming year. These department-wide initiatives can be found in many component agency programs such as Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Enterprise Directory, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Electronic Disease Surveillance System, and Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Automated Laboratory Management.
As reported by Larkins, HHS will invest Development, Modernization, and Enhancement funds to improve its ability to proactively identify vulnerabilities, protect sensitive information, integrate IT security into its overarching enterprise architecture, and ensure the implementation of department-wide security policy.
HHS Acting CIO Teeter suggested a number of areas where industry could engage with HHS, including cloud computing and data center consolidation (DCC) efforts and master data management (MDM). He cited HHS plans to consolidate over 180 HHS data centers to approximately 120 in the near term, and eventually to rely on industry-supported DCC to shrink that number to six. Additionally, industry's assistance with MDM efforts will provide HHS a single and comprehensive source of authoritative data for beneficiary, provider, program, and organization domains.
The briefing revealed that HHS's technology budget requests in FY12 are seeing relatively little change over FY11 levels. IT spending at CMS is expected to drop only slightly in FY12 to $3.39 billion from $3.42 billion in FY11. Teeter indicated that drivers affecting CMS spending will include improving enterprise architecture and modernization of IT systems. NIH should increase IT spending moderately, to $695 million in FY12 from $663 million in FY11. The sub-agency will develop enterprise architecture that adheres to HHS standards and modernize infrastructure. CDC's request likewise saw a moderate increase in IT spending to $465 million in FY12, up from $454 million in FY11. According to Larkins, CDC will focus on increasing efficiency and becoming more aggressive in its use of shared software and data services. FDA is expected to see a slight downturn in IT spending based on a request of $463 million in FY12 from $466 million in FY11. Budgeting at that component agency will focus on more comprehensive laboratory automation and quality management.
"It's important to note that the relatively flat levels of budget requests at HHS are actually a sign of the good work done by the department to comply with important federal healthcare related legislation," said Doug Gaines, Director of Market Intelligence for immixGroup. "HHS is continuing to fill gaps in its relatively high levels of compliance. Commercial technology will be important to HHS in improving performance, becoming more efficient and reducing costs associated with the technology improvements required by this legislation."
For complete information from the immixGroup HHS Market Intelligence Briefing, or to view a complementary version of the on-demand Webcast, visit www.immixgroup.com/hhs-briefing-webcast.
Contact:
Allan Rubin
Vice President, Marketing
immixGroup, Inc.
703.752.0658
allan_rubin@immixgroup.com
About immixGroup, Inc.
immixGroup helps technology companies do business with the government. The company's four divisions deliver a unique combination of services for software and hardware manufacturers, their channel partners, and government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. Since 1997, immixGroup has helped hundreds of large and emerging companies grow and manage their public sector business while providing its government customers with reliable access to leading commercial technologies through the contract vehicles and partners they prefer. For more information, contact immixGroup, Inc. at 703.752.0610, via email at info@immixgroup.com, or on the Web at www.immixgroup.com.
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