Healthcare First Look: Easy Access To Forrester
Starting today, Healthcare First Look makes it easier for you to find the Forrester research and resources you need. Each month, this newsletter will highlight our fresh insights, research plans, and new Forrester services. But this is your portal. Tell me what else you want -- send me a question at bradholmes@forrester.com, and I'll respond here or directly to you.

What's our outlook? Unrelenting cost, quality, and regulatory pressures mean that 2003 will be another wild year in healthcare -- and a good one for healthcare IT vendors. Where will technology have its biggest impact? Our team predicts that CPOE will go outpatient, ProAct Technologies will power healthplans' benefit portals, and marketing woes will lead drug firms to collaborate with payers and employers.

Speaking of new technology, Principal Analyst Eric Brown says the HIMSS show was, well, huge this year. But he came back with a nugget for our friends concerned with managing their looming HIPAA exposure. Eric says that provider CIOs should look to Neoteris and Vericept, respectively, to securely manage inbound and outbound communications with the rest of the healthcare community. Eric also recommends that hospitals looking to fund their hot EMR projects consider Concuity's solutions for stemming losses in their revenue cycle.

Marketing smarter is one way that drug firms will drive profit in 2003. Analyst Liz Boehm's right-channeling advice -- to meet customers on the right channels to enable the right conversations -- tells drug firms to replace scattershot ads with an integrated program to influence consumers. Liz can tell you how companies like GSK, GE, and HCA should collaborate on an absenteeism-reduction program that features migraine med Imitrex and integrates email, Web site, and workplace promotions.

Pharma would also like to get products to market faster this year, but Mike Barrett says clinical trial IT vendors like Phase Forward have largely failed to wow clients. EDC vendors that integrate their apps in 2003 with trial management services will win more business and better satisfy clients.

What can health plans do to grow margins this year? Attack administrative costs. Plans can't afford to ignore outsourcing savings in both IT management and core processes like claims administration. They should check out medical claims BPO vendors like EDS, IBM/deNovis and Perot Systems that are utilizing offshore resources. Expect more deals like BCBS of Rhode Island's soup-to-nuts arrangement with Perot.

We wouldn't be Forrester if we didn't have a big idea to get you thinking beyond 2003, and that's Healthcare Unbound. We believe that technology in, on, and around the body will free care from formal institutions. When? With data-emanating pacemakers, wristwatch-like blood glucose monitors, and surveillance cameras already in play, consumers today avoid hospital stays and nursing homes. A wave of demographic changes, economic imperatives, and emerging technologies will accelerate this trend, creating business opportunities for everyone from Intel to Wal-Mart that we will be talking about all year.

You will be seeing a lot more healthcare consumer, provider, and business data from us this year, and with an expanded team and deeper coverage of the technologies and strategies that matter to you. But we can't do our best without your help. Let me know what topics you want us to cover and what services you need us to deliver by replying to this email address with your thoughts. Thanks.


Brad Holmes
Healthcare Research Director

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