Is it fair to state that your level of involvement in the healthcare industry dictates how much you know about the industry? Well, if you believe this - here’s a quick summary of three important areas that all IT professional should understand and be able to present in three minutes or less.
The global healthcare industry - is a huge market with high growth potential in many countries
- The global annual healthcare expenditure is over U.S. $3 trillion (8% world gross domestic product).
- The U.S. annual healthcare spending is approximately $2 trillion and could consume close to 20% of GDP within a decade.
- The annual expenditure for healthcare in the world is over U.S. $3 trillion, or roughly 8% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP). In the U.S., annual healthcare spending is now approximately $2 trillion, occupying the largest sector of the nation's economy.
The potential and challenges – within healthcare, not only IT related
- Potential: New medical technologies and treatments; new options for consumers, providers, and payers
- Challenges: Unsustainable cost-demand imbalance, changing demographics
- Historically under-investment in information technology: Capital constraints and lack of incentives major causes (For example, most patients’ clinical records are still on paper.)
- Providers: Physicians, hospitals, nurses, and others
- Payers: Government payers and private payers such as health insurance companies
- Consumers
- Employers: In the U.S., payment by employers for the bulk of healthcare coverage
