| As healthcare evolves into an increasingly | | | | providers can positively impact both quality and |
| competitive field, everyone is feeling the pressure. | | | | cost. |
| Patients are being presented with more choices | | | | It is certainly true that, in order to compete, |
| and greater responsibilities. They are responding | | | | hospitals, health systems, medical groups, |
| by seeking health care information and resources | | | | ambulatory care centers and specialty care |
| that help them make healthy decisions. For their | | | | centers must first collaborate from within. For |
| part, individual providers must run more efficient | | | | ideal patient Access, medical stakeholders must |
| operations that still attract patient base; they are | | | | have Access to each other. Indeed, providers are |
| becoming receptive to-and often | | | | perpetually searching for techniques to more |
| demanding-connectivity tools that offer a better | | | | tightly integrate internal operations and leverage |
| way. Similarly, an array of economic factors is | | | | established business partnerships. But as the long |
| converging upon provider organizations. | | | | promised gains in IT productivity and returns on |
| Information technology (IT) is still a preferred | | | | investment begin to materialize, how to handle |
| means to strengthen quality and better manage | | | | patient Access and consumer connectivity are |
| costs. | | | | emerging as the key questions. |
| With so much emphasis placed directly on cost | | | | Building the bridge for patient/consumer/provider |
| and quality, the third principle for ongoing health | | | | Access finally brings the entire health care |
| care reform, Access, often gets lost in the | | | | continuum online. In the process of resolving the |
| shuffle. It's an unfortunate result of competitive | | | | Access Management challenges, providers large |
| dynamics unleashed in the economy's largest, | | | | and small are recognizing that they are also |
| most complex sector. But the problem is actually | | | | addressing the economic imperatives to mitigate |
| an opportunity. By addressing Access problems, | | | | administrative burdens and differentiate |
| from work flow bottlenecks, to resource | | | | themselves to the general public. |
| management to complicated payer requirements, | | | | |