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Outsourcing in the healthcare sector has come a long way --- from low-end claims processing to medical analytics and clinical processing. But things are fast changing and specialty hospitals and clinics are emerging to support and handle more specialized ailments.
In the past it was not uncommon for hospitals to outsource certain support services such as food or laundry. In an effort to reduce cost and increase revenues, hospitals are beginning to outsource patient services.
"The first thing that some hospital outsourced was their supply chain. Those people working in facilities as material managers were taken off the hospital payroll and went on to the supply chain payroll."
The statistics presented lead to some interesting observations. The categories of patient care services being outsourced either require specialized knowledge or specialized equipment to deliver the service in a cost-effective manner.
The emergence of information technology services
By 2011, the first wave of baby boomers will reach retirement or age 65 and at that time there will be 40 million senior citizens in the United States. In the year 2020 there will be 55 million and in 2030, 71 million retirees.
"With the growing number of retirees, the uninsured American population and with the shortages of nurses and pharmacists we really do need to be looking at technology to solve some of those problems," said Peter Altabef president and CEO of Perot Systems.
It is expected that the healthcare industry will spend roughly $31 billion in healthcare IT in North America alone, compared to $19 billion six years ago. Perot Systems, which delivers technology-based business solutions to help organizations control cost and cultivate growth, annually receives about half of its revenues through the healthcare industry.
End-to-end management of IT resources enables to support and maintain the advanced clinical information technology of the future more efficiently and more effectively. As industry move towards more advanced clinical information systems, they are building a foundation that allows them to have single vendor suites.
By automating clinical, financial and administrative processes throughout its network of facilities, Hospitals expects to enhance the care delivery capabilities and provide the technology platform required to support long-term growth.
"Triad began this process, looking for information technology partners who not only shared our vision but were committed to helping us achieve it," said James D. Shelton, chairman and CEO of Triad Hospitals, Inc. "Perot Systems and McKesson have unmatched track records in designing and delivering solutions for large and complex healthcare delivery systems, which made them the right choices for us, our patients, our physicians, our associates and the communities we serve."
Perot Systems will support the transformation initiative with an IT outsourcing agreement across all Triad facilities, including Triad's corporate office. The 10-year agreement, with an expected total contract value of $1.2 billion, is highlighted by the implementation of a suite of standardized clinical, financial and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Perot Systems will leverage its Clinical Solutions Center to help optimize and support the use of McKesson's Horizon Clinicals suite. In addition, Perot Systems will deploy its expertise and delivery methodologies to operate Triad's technology infrastructure functions for maximum clinical effectiveness. These include applications support, network management and help desk activities, as well as, server and desktop computing.
According to results released by the American Hospital Association (AHA) more and more hospitals across the nation are embracing heath information technologies. In the survey conducted by the AHA it was found that nearly half of all responding community hospitals reported moderate or high use of health IT in 2006, compared to a response of 37 percent in 2005.
"Electronic health records help doctors provide higher quality patient care, improved efficiency and with less hassle," said Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and human Services. "By removing barriers, these regulation changes will help physicians get these systems in place and working for patients faster."
Hospitals also reported dramatic increases in the use of computerized alerts to prevent negative drug interactions. In 2006, 51 percent of hospitals were using real time drug interaction alerts, up from 23 percent in 2005.
Advances in health IT are changing the way, better tools, better information and better ways to share information are critical in our constant quest to provide quality care to patients we serve.
Certain kinds of hospitals are further ahead of the adoption of health IT. The size of hospital also plays a considerable role in its IT use. Of the largest hospitals, those with 500 beds or more, 74 percent reported moderate to high health IT use in 2006. By contrast, only 23 percent of hospitals with 50 or fewer beds were in the top levels of IT use. Hospitals in urban areas, teaching hospitals and hospitals with better financial health also used more health IT.
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