E-Business Growing In Healthcare Industry - study by Computer Sciences Corp - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, April, 2001

Chief information officers in healthcare and insurance organizations are adopting e-business technologies and strategies to improve the way care is delivered and administered, according to a study by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), El Segundo, California. The 822 study respondents included chief information officers, vice presidents, and directors of technology departments in organizations from financial services, health care, consumer goods, aerospace, and government.

Despite barriers to e-business, the healthcare industry is under pressure to connect patients, physicians, insurance carriers, and medical service providers electronically, according to the survey. A growing number of patients want on-line access to their medical records and claims status, and physicians are demanding that managed care organizations simplify their referral and authorization processes and pay claims more quickly.

The top three information technology issues identified by healthcare executives are developing an e-business strategy, optimizing organizational effectiveness, and connecting to customers, suppliers, and business partners electronically. Only 38 percent of the healthcare respondents have an e-business strategy in place, the second-lowest percentage of all industry sectors polled and 30 percent below the survey average. Healthcare respondents also identified electronic commerce and Internet technologies as two of the top areas that need investment. They identified a variety of barriers to implementing e-business initiatives, principally the difficulty and expense of integrating systems.

In addition, most healthcare providers have multiple payer relationships, each with its own proprietary administrative and clinical procedures. Implementation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act standards for electronic transactions, however, will eliminate many of the disparities in payer transactions and speed up the healthcare industry's adoption of the Internet for e-commerce, according to CSC.