Tablet technology continues to shakeup healthcare as many medical practices and dental offices are planning to spend thousands of dollars to buy the devices in 2012.
A recent survey from the NPD Group, a market research company, found that 75 percent of the small to medium sized health care practices polled are looking to buy.
According to the survey, 76% of respondents intend to buy tablets over the next 12 months averaging $6,800 on the portable devices.
The tablet most desired is the iPad, which has tremendous brand recognition. Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD concurs.
“The iPad, just as it is in the consumer market, is synonymous with ‘Tablet’ in the business market, leaving Apple poised to take advantage of the increased spending intentions of these SMBs.”
This should come as no surprise, as there are plethora of medical applications available for the iOS platform. In fact, the iMedicalApps team has reviewed some intriguing apps for the ipad such as the Vue Motion medical image viewer, as well as the Epocrates EHR app. Both of these are good examples of how tablet computers can be integrated into a typical medical practice. We also recently reported that according to a Jackson and Coker report, four out of five practicing physicians use smartphones, computer tablets, and other mobile devices during the course of their workday. Thus, they are an important consideration for improving patient care.
The trend doesn’t stop there. The survey also looked at small and medium sized businesses overall and concluded that as a group, 73% planned to buy tablet computers in 2012. The companies would have had to have 1000 employees or less to be included in the survey.
“The average amount they expect to spend on the tablets is $21,000, according to the survey, which was carried out in September. And overall, more businesses are mulling tablet buys than before: in NPD’s second quarter survey, only 68 percent said they intended to purchase tablets over the next year.”
Source: Dotmed
