Technology Should be Used to Help Consumers.Cost-cutting should not be the primary goal for information technology investments. Instead, the focus should be on improving access to care by streamlining eligibility and referral checking, providing better customer relationship management through online interfaces, and automating collection steps. A new report from Gartner Inc., one of the nation's leading technology consulting firms Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a , entitled "The Healthcare Top Ten 2001" states that challenges may be converted to business opportunities that improve the delivery and financing of health care. Hospitals, for example, may use IT to reduce administrative costs administrative costs, n.pl the overhead expenses incurred in the operation of a dental benefits program, excluding costs of dental services provided. by migrating care to less-costly outpatient settings. Health insurers can use Internet solutions to encourage personal health management and preventative medicine. Dave Garets, Gartner Group (company) Gartner Group - One of the biggest IT industry research firms. Address: Connecticut, USA. Vice President for Healthcare research, notes, "While technology is tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. , the market is filled with tools that have yet to prove their effectiveness or ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). ." He adds, "Health care organizations must evaluate consumer-focused technology carefully, remembering the need to balance high touch and high tech." James A. Hawkins is Publisher of Healthcare Briefings, a newsletter available in print, on cassette, via fax, and on computer disk. |
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