Results will benchmark concerns and opportunities facing hospitals and healthcare organizations worldwide

London, UK – Feb. 9, 2010 - BridgeHead Software, a leading developer of healthcare data management software, announced today it will survey hospitals and healthcare organizations worldwide to gauge the industry’s readiness for, and response to, explosive growth of information technologies and data they produce.

The drive towards greater implementation of healthcare information technology has been fuelled by global initiatives such as the UK’s National Programme for IT (NPfIT) and, in the USA, the HITECH Act. With incentive funding at stake, many hospitals have accelerated their technology strategies and are now generating data at unprecedented rates, consuming significant human, financial and IT resources in their efforts to keep up. The steady increase in volume of data has raised questions about best practices hospitals and healthcare organizations must adopt to effectively and efficiently manage, store and archive these data.

“Healthcare organizations we work with tell us data management is demanding significant attention throughout their enterprises,” says Tony Cotterill, CEO of BridgeHead Software. “The healthcare data burden is understandable, given that the industry is at an ‘in-between stage’ as hospitals transition from paper to electronic systems.”

To begin exploring these issues, BridgeHead Software developed its Data Management Healthcheck, scheduled to launch online Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010-HDM-survey. The survey will focus on a range of issues pertinent to healthcare data management including:
• The current rate of cloud services adoption, and if the industry perceives it as a potential solution to data management challenges;
• The magnitude of cost efficiencies organizations are gaining (or anticipate gaining) from virtualization of their server and storage infrastructure;
• The significance of the “Green Movement” in healthcare IT.

Those participating in the survey will be entered in a random drawing to win a range of prizes, including the new Apple iPad.

Within today’s environment, it is essential to understand the dynamics influencing response to these challenges, says Cotterill. “We believe the time is right to paint a clearer picture of current industry status and what strategies forward-looking organizations plan to execute. We’ve designed the BridgeHead Software Data Management Healthcheck to provide insights and deliver practical information that healthcare organizations can incorporate in their own planning.”

The survey will remain open until March 31, 2010, with preliminary findings on healthcare and cloud strategies shared at HIMSS 2010 in Atlanta March 1-4. Additional interim results on server and storage virtualization will be announced at World of Healthcare IT (WoHIT) in Barcelona, March 15 – 18 at BridgeHead booth 831. Comprehensive results will be released before May 1, 2010. Updates will be posted via BridgeHead Software on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BridgeHeadHDM.