Strategies in Consulting for the 21st Century

Abstract

Health care is big business. Hovering between 13 and 14 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, national healthcare expenditures are projected to cost about $1.5 trillion in 2003. The U.S. government picked up about 32 percent of this tab in 2000, underscoring why it has such an important say in the practice of medicine, the delivery of health care, and cost reimbursement. Another significant indicator of the rate of growth in health care is Medicare spending, which stood at $3.2 billion in 1967, and today, 36 years later, has risen to $150 billion. In Fiscal Year 2002, the Department of Health and Human Services handled more than 900 million claims. In short, health care is big business. I am not sure we have an accurate number for information systems (IS) spending, but estimates run between 1 and 3 percent of total healthcare spending. Healthcare delivery systems are, of course, a subset of this group, and IS spending for these systems is expected to be $20 billion in 2003.

As healthcare information explodes and new information systems evolve, consultants are strategically positioned to help balance quality and cost.