Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Healthcare Industry e-Valuates the Last 12 Months, Prescribes Profit-Generating Strategies

Manasquan, N.J., USA, November 7, 2006 – Forced to absorb the costs of uninsured, uncompensated care in the face of reduced reimbursements from payers, healthcare organizations are turning to programs with profit-generating potential. They’re also counting on consumers to bear more of healthcare’s financial burden by self-managing their conditions and care and modifying unhealthy behaviors.

These were key trends identified by the second annual online survey of the healthcare community conducted by the Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN). The September 2006 Web-based survey drew more than 150 respondents, who as a group deemed the industry’s performance over the last 12 months an improvement over previous years. However, an examination of responses by industry segment did identify specific concerns. For more information on the survey results, please visit the HIN site.

Disease management (DM), wellness and health promotion programs — especially efforts that motivate the patient or health plan member to change unhealthy behaviors — are receiving kudos for their potential to pare healthcare costs via reduced hospitalizations and increased compliance. Natural beneficiaries of this trend are the vendors that provide this service to the industry as well as the health plans who are paying for fewer admissions due to these programs. Also buoyed by the benefits of DM initiatives involving health coaching and self-management, health plans are looking to expand efforts in this area. Getting a lot of attention are strategies for identifying, educating and redirecting the number of costly “frequent fliers” in emergency rooms to more appropriate avenues of care.

More than half of responding hospitals expressed discontent with the last 12 months’ economic performance, blaming increased debt and reduced reimbursements for their negative assessment. Despite a great deal of speculation on the state of primary care, physicians who responded said their outlook is generally favorable, due to tighter cost management and the presence of more patients.

To industry segments lamenting financial growth, launching new products and business lines can be a lucrative profit generator, according to Dr. Peter Kongstvedt, a partner in the health and managed care consulting services division of Accenture. Dr. Kongstvedt addressed healthcare executives during HIN’s third annual audio conference on healthcare trends and performance expectations. “Grow your core business by introducing new types of niche market core products and place new focus on targeted products,” he advised during Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2007: Performance Expectations for the Healthcare Industry. “Also, grow non-core business by adding ancillary products and partnering with other plans to create alliances.”

“Even though many healthcare organizations are not experiencing hoped-for increases in profits, they are still finding the capacity to launch new products and initiatives,” said HIN executive vice president and chief operating officer Melanie Matthews of the survey results. In addition to the annual trends and performance expectations audio conference, Matthews’ organization sponsors more than 25 interactive audio conferences led by industry thought leaders each year. “Our survey respondents told us about new ventures in marketing, disaster preparedness, cultural competency and information technology (IT), areas that we will consider to investigate for these organizations.” A growing reliance on the Internet and the anticipated impact of aging baby boomers’ needs on the healthcare industry are spurring new ideas and services, she added. For more survey results, please visit the HIN site.

About the Healthcare Intelligence Network – HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. For more information, contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 292-3073, e-mail info@hin.com, or visit http://www.hin.com.

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Contact: Patricia Donovan
Voice: (888) 446-3530
Fax: (732) 292-3073
E-mail: pdonovan@hin.com
Web site: www.hin.com