Healthcare has always been at the cutting edge of technology for patient treatments and monitoring, yet the industry has made little use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to support these practices. This is changing rapidly as the industry begins to realize the full potential of these technologies and increased uptake creates a host of opportunities for vendors, systems integrators, service providers and resellers. ICT Opportunities in Healthcare: Key issues, growth prospects and market opportunities in Europe and the US is a report that outlines the geo-political and market pressures facing the healthcare sector and demonstrates how ICT solutions are helping to address them. This report identifies the opportunities for IT vendors, systems integrators, analysts, channel partners and consultants, enabling them to target both the geographical regions and IT segments that offer the greatest profit opportunities between now and 2010. Increase revenues by targeting the key growth areas in ICT spending in the US and European healthcare sectors.
 

Table of Contents
 
ICT Opportunities in Healthcare
 
Executive summary 12
 
ICT in healthcare 12
 
Healthcare ICT opportunities in Europe 13
 
Healthcare ICT opportunities in the US 14
 
Enterprise applications in healthcare 15
 
Call center outsourcing in healthcare 16
 
RFID in healthcare 16
 
Action points 17
 
Chapter 1 ICT in healthcare 20
 
Summary 20
 
Introduction 20
 
What is this report about? 22
 
Who is the target reader? 22
 
Healthcare in Europe 23
 
The state of play 23
 
Technology trends 24
 
EU-wide strategies 24
 
EU-wide benchmarking: the open method of coordination 24
 
Overall direction in European healthcare: breaking down of silo
 
structure 25
 
Drivers for all three national markets 25
 
Baby boomers – aging population 25
 
Changing healthcare model 26
 
Greater awareness of medical error 27
 
Consumerism – more demanding users of care 27
 
Restraints on all national markets 28
 
ICT is a low priority for providers 28
 
Funding constraints 28
 
Public sector can’t realize full cost savings 29
 
Low customer turnover 29
 
Proof of ROI 30
 
iv
 
Healthcare in the US 30
 
The state of play 30
 
Positive signs for healthcare ICT from the government camp 30
 
The breaking down healthcare information silos 31
 
Payers to use cash reserves to acquire competitors – triggering need
 
for IT integration and converged systems 31
 
Patients & the public are demanding more from healthcare provision 32
 
Key trends driving increased US healthcare ICT spending 32
 
Baby-boomer explosion underway 32
 
Evidence that clinical information systems indeed have the capacity
 
to reduce medical errors and generate ROI 32
 
Large-scale implementations of healthcare ICT projects are taking
 
off 33
 
Provider organizations are becoming increasingly IT-literate 33
 
Financial incentive programs for providing quality care are taking
 
off 33
 
More robust and affordable technology 34
 
The rise of consumerism 34
 
Obstacles to healthcare ICT adoption 34
 
Lack of funding for healthcare IT projects 34
 
Lack of user-friendly, integrated technology solutions 34
 
Little proof on quantifiable return on investment 35
 
Lacking end-user acceptance 35
 
Fragmented US healthcare system 35
 
Lack of sufficient financial incentives to encourage technology
 
adoption 36
 
Chapter 2 Healthcare ICT opportunities in
 
Europe 38
 
Summary 38
 
Defining the European healthcare industry 39
 
Players in healthcare information technology 39
 
Total market overview 40
 
Payers 43
 
IT investment areas for payers 45
 
Infrastructure rationalization 45
 
IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) 46
 
Customer-facing technologies 46
 
Providers 46
 
IT investment areas for providers 47
 
Networking 48
 
Storage 50
 
Security 50
 
Smart card access 51
 
Granularizing the network 51
 
Remote access 51
 
v
 
Consolidation and standardization of servers and networks 52
 
Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) 52
 
RFID in healthcare 53
 
Customer-facing technologies 53
 
Business process outsourcing (BPO) 53
 
ICT spending by country 54
 
France 54
 
Payers 56
 
Providers 57
 
Germany 58
 
Payers 61
 
Providers 62
 
United Kingdom 63
 
Payers 65
 
Providers 65
 
Conclusions 67
 
Solutions to fit each tier of healthcare provision 67
 
Frontline healthcare staff 68
 
Behind the scenes IT 68
 
Action points 68
 
Proof of solution is essential 68
 
Marketing must be healthcare specific 69
 
Engage with all levels in healthcare provision 69
 
Chapter 3 Healthcare ICT opportunities in
 
the US 73
 
Summary 73
 
Healthcare provision in the US 74
 
Total market overview 75
 
Hardware 76
 
Services 76
 
Software 77
 
Payer vs. provider 78
 
Payers 79
 
Providers 81
 
By IT sector 83
 
Software 84
 
Hardware 86
 
Conclusions 87
 
Action points 88
 
vi
 
Chapter 4 Enterprise applications in
 
healthcare 93
 
Summary 93
 
Customer relationship management (CRM) in healthcare 94
 
What does CRM mean for healthcare payers? 94
 
What does CRM mean for healthcare providers? 95
 
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) in healthcare 97
 
What does ERP mean for healthcare payers? 97
 
What does ERP mean for healthcare providers? 97
 
Market drivers 99
 
Baby boomers – aging population 99
 
Consumerism – more demanding users of care 99
 
Overall healthcare spending and costs are rising 100
 
Second-generation technologies 100
 
High current administration costs 100
 
Initiatives to improve gate-keeping using CRM 101
 
Market inhibitors 101
 
ICT is a low priority for providers 101
 
Poorly verticalized applications 101
 
Public sector can’t realize cost savings 102
 
Low customer turnover 102
 
Proof of ROI 102
 
CRM and ERP by geography 103
 
France 103
 
CRM 103
 
ERP 103
 
Germany 103
 
CRM 103
 
ERP 104
 
United Kingdom 104
 
CRM 104
 
ERP 105
 
United States 106
 
CRM 106
 
ERP 106
 
Market valuations 107
 
CRM 107
 
France 112
 
Germany 113
 
United Kingdom 114
 
United States 115
 
ERP 116
 
France 120
 
Germany 120
 
United Kingdom 122
 
United States 123
 
vii
 
Action points 124
 
Chapter 5 Call center outsourcing in
 
healthcare 129
 
Summary 129
 
Introduction 130
 
Market context 131
 
Selling call center outsourcing services to healthcare 132
 
Managed services 133
 
Call center consolidation 134
 
Speech enabled IVRs 135
 
Call recording 135
 
Specialized customer interactions 135
 
Routine call center functions 135
 
Market opportunities 136
 
North America 136
 
Europe 137
 
Conclusions 138
 
Routine call center functions 139
 
Speech enabled IVRs 139
 
Call recording 139
 
Managed services 139
 
Call center consolidation 139
 
Chapter 6 RFID in healthcare 141
 
Summary 141
 
Market context 142
 
The state of play 142
 
High price, fragmented value chain, proprietary standards 142
 
Market about to solidify and standards development underway –
 
although patent issues are clouding the horizon 143
 
RFID as a supply-chain enabler for healthcare providers 144
 
RFID uses in healthcare 144
 
Healthcare RFID implementations and initiatives 146
 
The RFID value chain 147
 
Healthcare-specific RFID vendors 148
 
The future of RFID 149
 
Intermec’s bid for royalties may have many negative repercussions 150
 
The issue of privacy is overrated… 150
 
viii
 
…but will gain more significance as patient and personnel tracking
 
takes off 151
 
Bar codes have not yet played out their role in healthcare 152
 
It is key to focus on RFID’s unique capabilities in the provider arena
 
as well as to solve the technology’s current shortcomings 152
 
Action points 153
 
Chapter 7 Conclusions 157
 
Summary 157
 
Proof of solution is essential 158
 
Marketing must be healthcare specific 158
 
Engage with all levels in healthcare provision 159
 
Technology must be healthcare-relevant too 160
 
Systems integrators play a strong role as prime in healthcare 160
 
Payment by results: risk sharing is increasingly common 161
 
Successful business change management is key 161
 
Index 163