When it comes to investment in networking solutions for healthcare information technology, data security (67 percent) and productivity gains (60 percent) rank as major factors, according to respondents of the 2004 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Networking Technology Survey, sponsored by Cisco Systems and supported by the HIMSS Foundation.

Compliance with governmental regulations (54 percent) and expected operational cost savings (53 percent) were also identified among the top four reasons for technology expenditures. Most respondents indicated that a combination of factors, usually four of the choices identified above, influenced their investment in technology.

The survey was administered at the 2004 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in February 2004 in Orlando, Fla.

Other significant findings include:

• Recognizing barriers to deployment: Lack of perceived need and capital investment too high were the reasons most often cited as barriers to deployment of technology; complexity of technology was selected least often.
  
  
• Preventing virus and worm threats: Network security technologies were the only solutions group that was identified as having the ability to enable organizations to reduce their threat of intrusion and virus risk.
  
  
• Realizing benefits for improved care: Reducing medical errors, improving the patient experience and the performance of clinical applications are benefits that have the best possibility of being realized with the implementation of mobile device technology or wireless LAN networks.
  
  
• Identifying organizational challenges: Authentification/single-sign is perceived by 44 percent of respondents as the biggest networking challenge for their organization.