CONSERO INSIGHTS: Consero Insights -- Health Care

Health care costs are estimated at $7 trillion per year globally, consuming more and more income of all countries. New technologies related to health care delivery, especially in developing countries, are simultaneously lowering the costs of care, increasing access to it, and improving quality. While the recent passage of health reform legislation highlighted costs in the United States, tackling costs is just as much of an imperative in other parts of the world.

Health care stakeholders have digitized information for some time, with caregivers increasingly communicating with each other and with patients by email; lab results and radiology images stored and disseminated electronically; and claims and reimbursements handled electronically. This transition gained considerable speed as a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), which provides monetary grants (and imposes penalties) in order to expedite the transition to electronic health records under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009; that is, the Obama Administration’s national stimulus package.

Businesses must consider electronic health records not only on the front end as a result of the HITECH Act’s mandates, but also because they will become the predominant form of evidence in regulatory proceedings and litigation related to health care.