Combining healthcare technology with cloud computing yields real cost savings

BETHESDA, MD. (September 13) -- Organizations preparing to comply with the new federal health reform law are facing unexpected costs as well as concerns about their ability to provide high-quality benefits.

But according to "Building a High Performance Engine for Healthcare," a new report from the Healthcare Performance Management Institute, they need not worry about their healthcare futures. New cloud computing technologies will revolutionize the way that they manage their health benefits programs.

"Cloud technologies allow for unprecedented levels of collaboration among employers, their employees, and those who deliver healthcare," said George Pantos, Executive Director of the Healthcare Performance Management (HPM) Institute. "Previously, executives had to make massive investments if they wanted to build the infrastructure needed to accumulate and analyze health-benefits or other business-process data. The cloud can now do that for them -- at a fraction of the price."

By consulting HPM software running on the cloud, executives can measure the real-time performance of their health plans and instantaneously identify opportunities for savings. Cloud-based architecture can draw on data from multiple silos and then integrate and analyze that data so that managers have the best possible information on which to base their decisions.

"One of our clients has saved more than $3 million in healthcare costs in one year by utilizing cloud-based analytics, incentives and proactive member engagement through a program called ‘Healthpons,’" said Henry Cha, President of Glenwood, Md.-based Healthcare Interactive (HCI) and a founding member of the HPM Institute. "Healthpons are similar to offerings by Groupon and Living Social -- they're healthcare coupons that serve as incentives to drive consumerism and savings."

"Employers are under tremendous pressure to deliver health benefits that yield better outcomes and bend the cost curve down," said Pantos. "Companies that place cloud computing at the center of their technological strategy will be able to fulfill that mission."

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For more information or to set up an interview with Healthcare Performance Management Institute Executive Director George Pantos, please contact Robby Schrum at rschrum@hpminstitute.org or 202-471-4228.

To download a copy of "Building a High Performance Engine for Healthcare: Why the Cloud Matters," please visit www.hpminstitute.org/content/building-high-performance-engine-healthcare-why-cloud-matters.

About the HPM Institute

The Healthcare Performance Management Institute (HPM Institute) is a research and education organization dedicated to promoting the use of business technology and management principles that deliver better and more cost-effective healthcare benefits for employers who cover their employees.

The Institute’s mission is to introduce and develop a new corporate discipline called Healthcare Performance Management (HPM) — a technology-enabled business strategy that tackles the challenge of controlling healthcare cost and quality in much the same way that enterprises have optimized customer relations, supply chain management and enterprise resource management. HPM provides C-level executives with visibility and control over company healthcare benefits spending trends and risk management postures, while protecting individual employee privacy.