Ernst & Young: Collaboration as key to a patient-centric system

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

New horizons: collaboration, Ernst & Young LLP’s annual publication for the US health care provider industry has just been released. It notes that  as the US health care industry continues its transformation to a patient-centric system, health care providers face a new imperative to collaborate with other entities to deliver quality care and improved outcomes with greater efficiency at lower costs.

The financial pressures leading to current consolidation trends in the health care industry show no signs of letting up, with health care mergers and acquisitions on an upward trend in 2012. In this environment, maintaining independence may be difficult for health care entities unless strong connections are forged with others.

Technology will be a critical driver of collaboration in the future, enabling providers to navigate changes in reimbursement and clinical practice, manage costs, coordinate patient care, and support collaboration among health care workers, between clinicians and patients and across multiple sites. Stage 2 of meaningful use for electronic health records emphasizes a secure, actionable exchange of clinical information to optimize patient safety and organizational efficiency. While ensuring meaningful use, providers and payers alike must also implement new diagnostic and procedure codes to meet new reporting and billing requirements.

Jim Costanzo, National Practice Leader, Health Care Advisory Services, Ernst & Young LLP comments:

“As we enter a new era of health care delivery, boundaries between industry stakeholders are continuing to dissolve, leading to exciting improvements in the delivery of patient care,”he said. “With the market and regulatory forces driving the industry toward an outcome-based care delivery model, the highly fragmented majority of health care providers and insurers are seeking ways to work collaboratively.”