Sort by title Sort by date
The Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers provides
new intelligence, perspective and analysis on trends affecting
all health-related industries, including healthcare providers,
pharmaceuticals, health and life sciences and payers.
|
|
|
The price of excess: Identifying waste in healthcare spending
More than half of the $2.2 trillion spent annually on healthcare in the U.S. could be considered wasteful, according to an analysis published by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. Defensive medicine, such as redundant, inappropriate or unnecessary tests and procedures, was identified as the biggest area of excess, followed by inefficient healthcare administration and the cost of care necessitated by conditions such as obesity, which can be considered preventable by lifestyle changes. See more
|
|
|
|
|
Top eight health industry issues in 2008
Health organizations face a pivotal year in 2008 as they anticipate the wildcard outcome of the presidential election. Meanwhile, they must prepare for impending changes — pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are adapting to a new safety agenda from the FDA including the agency's expanded authority over post-market drug safety. See more
|
|
|
|
|
Beyond the sound bite: November 2007 review of presidential candidates' proposals for health reform
Healthcare is one of the top domestic concerns in the upcoming presidential election. The current health care system is not built to last, and the 2008 presidential election is poised to see a significant push for major health reform. The direction it goes depends largely on the next President.
|
|
|
Closing the seams: Developing an integrated approach to health system disaster preparedness
A disaster occurs every week in the US, and the numbers are increasing. Yet despite increased federal and state funding since 2001 and lessons learned following 9/11 and natural disasters like large-scale hurricanes and floods, disaster planning in the healthcare arena remains sporadic, disconnected and under-funded.
See more
Creating a climate of innovation: The health industry's most challenging paradox
Innovation is one paradox of healthcare — tremendous strides forward within a system that overall doesn't work well. Can innovation transform healthcare? The annoyingly complex answer is that it does and it doesn't. Effective incremental, sector and local innovations are everywhere, but the breakthroughs that would make the entire health system workable remain elusive.
Keeping score: A comparison of pay-for-performance programs among health plans
In order for providers to improve quality and make sustainable changes in the delivery of care, they must have specific incentives to do so. Pay-for-performance programs are an important tool to link financial payment with quality improvement. If P4P is to succeed in significantly moving the needle on quality, we ultimately need an all-payer approach, wherein providers face the same metrics and incentives for all their patients, regardless of their insurance coverage.
What works: Healing the healthcare staffing shortage
The federal government predicts that by 2020, nurse and physician retirements will contribute to a shortage of approximately 24,000 doctors and nearly 1 million nurses. Health industry leaders are faced with the challenge of orchestrating care in an increasingly complex and converging healthcare labor market. Seeking solutions means understanding that while the challenges confronting nurse and physician shortages are very different, their roles and futures are starting to converge.
The Quality Conundrum: Practical approaches for enhancing patient care
This 200-page book is a compilation of thought-provoking essays by PwC and industry experts on quality in provider, payer, pharmaceutical and employer organizations in the U.S. and around the world. It explores the barriers that have made healthcare quality improvements difficult to achieve, and outlines a clear path to progress. Take a journey through the healthcare system from the patient's perspective.
Behind the numbers: Healthcare cost trends for 2008
The nation's employers can expect a return to single-digit increases in health benefit expenses in the year ahead. Unlike health plan premium forecasts, medical cost trends reflect the underlying numbers for actual medical costs by plan design.
They are used by private insurers and employers to compare health plan costs year over year, ultimately to set premium levels and design the benefit packages that will be offered to employees in the fall.
Working Towards Wellness: Accelerating the prevention of chronic disease
The rising prevalence of chronic diseases is a global issue that affects the productivity and competitiveness of employers. The Health Research Institute partnered with the World Economic Forum on research that examines the impact of chronic disease on multinational employers and recommends a framework for developing, launching and maintaining wellness programs in different territories.
Tailoring the approach: Employer attitudes and healthcare strategies address distinct issues
Employers must increasingly customize their approaches to providing health benefits to the unique health needs and behaviors of their workforce. Fortunately, a growing number of tools are available to activate employees. Tailoring the right approach may be challenging but not
impossible. The results released by PwC's Health Research Institute (HRI) and Management Barometer demonstrate the evolution of employer attitudes on benefit design, consumers and quality.
Top Seven Health Industry Trends in '07: A PwC Perspective
Obesity is the New Smoking. Consumers Take the Wheel of Consumer-Directed Healthcare. States take the Health Policy Lead. These are three of the top seven trends that will face the healthcare industry in 2007. This report examines these trends and what consumers have to say about them. The research provides a keen perspective for health executives and policymakers as they move their organizations forward.
Behind the Numbers: 2007 Medical cost trends for employers
Medical costs are expected to increase by double digits in 2007, but these costs are impacted by various inflators, like cost-shifting, and deflators like cost-sharing. This report details expected increases in various benefit designs, including consumer-driven health plans.
HealthCast 2020: Creating a sustainable future
In this groundbreaking report, HealthCast 2020, the Health Research Institute looks at solutions and responses from around the world to the globalization and industrywide convergence of healthcare. What insights, best practices and policy lessons can be learned from experiences in various countries to create a globally sustainable health system? Who, or what, is driving the solutions?
The Trends and Benefits of Providing Healthcare Quality Data
In this latest HealthBrief, PwC discusses the results of a recent survey of top executives at large U.S.-based multinational companies. The focus of the HealthBrief is on healthcare quality data that firms provide to their employees as a way to influence the utilization of healthcare
through better education of their employees on cost and quality issues and improvement of their own health behaviors.
Take Care of Yourself: Employers embrace consumerism to control healthcare costs
With double digit health insurance cost increases affecting the business bottom line, employers are turning to consumerism and consumer-directed healthcare to provide a solution. This research report gets behind this trend to find out how employers are coping with rising healthcare costs and the promise that consumerism may bring.
HealthCast Tactics: A blueprint for the future
Building on HealthCast 2010, this 2002 report recommends tactics that successful health systems and payers should consider employing over the next three to five years. Among the tactics are pay-for-performance, predictive modeling, and renewing capital plants, all of which are strongly affecting the industry today. The report draws on a survey of more than 650 top executives of hospital systems, payers, governments, medical supply vendors, physician groups and employers.
HealthCast 2010: Smaller world, bigger expectations
Consumerism, E-business and genomics will be the disruptive drivers of this decade, according to this 1999 global research report that included a mix of policy makers, health system executives, employers, physicians, insurers and medical supply vendors from the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia. This report looks at those disruptive drivers and the way they'll affect providing and paying for healthcare in the future.
