The U.S. healthcare industry is currently undergoing what will ultimately be a radical transformation, driven by unsustainable cost increases, increased regulation, and shifting power relationships among payers, providers, physicians, and patients. We have reached the point where all four of these key constituent groups have significant economic concerns — providers and physicians about their revenues, and payers and patients about the affordability of care.
The definition of what constitutes quality of care is also changing. Traditional measures won’t meet the outcome evidence needs of a more engaged consumer of healthcare services or payers’ increasing demands for more economic and clinical value for the healthcare dollar.