Faced with a rapidly changing healthcare environment, industry executives need to identify and anticipate future trends in healthcare – from new technology to changing directions and demographics.

Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2005: Performance Expectations for the Healthcare Industry, a new special report from the Healthcare Intelligence Network, examines healthcare issues emerging in 2005 and their impact on hospital organizations’ vision.

In this report, which is based on the Healthcare Intelligence Network-sponsored October 6, 2004 audio conference on healthcare trends, two industry experts share their predictions for what 2005 will bring for the healthcare industry. You'll get details on:

• emerging trends;
• issues and problems effecting change;
• performance expectations; and
• a fiscal outlook.

In this 35-page report, industry experts Nathan Kaufman, senior vice president, healthcare strategy for Superior Consultant Company Inc., and Christopher Jedrey, partner, McDermott Will & Emery, delve into the issues that will impact the industry in the upcoming year, including consumer-driven healthcare and health savings accounts, electronic medical records, physician shortages, hospital profitability and operating margins, and the Medicare Modernization Act, including its Proposed Rule on Part D Drug Benefit.

The report examines the growth of consumer- driven healthcare, including key components in the implementation of these plans, barriers to consumer-driven plans and the role of technology.

You'll also get details on what hospitals will need to improve their operating margins, a detailed analysis of the impact of the Proposed Rule on Part D Drug Benefit on health plans and providers and the challenges associated with electronic medical records in 2005.

Table of Contents

• More on Board with Consumer-Driven Healthcare
  • Checking Out Concierge Medicine HSAs Certain to Impact Healthcare Horizon
  • Q&A: Electronic Medical Records
  • Electronic Medical Records Ease Way for CDH
• Technology Key to Improving Patient Safety
• Hospital Trends
  • 2005 Market Realities
  • Overworked, Underpaid MDs Result in Physician Shortages
  • Q&A: Hospitals and the Medicare Modernization Act
  • Hospital-Doctor Relationships Under Microscope
  • CEOs, Physicians at Odds on Strategies
  • Cookbook Medicine Recipe for Improving Quality of Care
  • Q&A: Quality Report Card
  • Status Quo for Hospital Profitability
  • Operating Margins Critical to Financial Health
  • The Five-Percent Mantra
  • Community Benefit Activities May Suffer
  • Where Hospitals Lose Focus
  • Cost-Shifting Works for New Hampshire Hospitals
  • Outpatient Imaging Major Growth Area
  • Q&A: Managing Material Inventories
• CMS, IRS Rulings Impact Healthcare
  • Proposed Part D Drug Benefit Rule Proves Costly
  • Charity Care Likely Litigation Target
  • Joint-Venture Rulings Spark Uncertainty
• Analysis: Proposed Rule on Part D Drug Benefit
  • The Competitive Bid Process and Drug Pricing
  • Design and Operation of a Formulary
  • The Enrollment Process and Late Enrollment Penalties
  • Marketing to Medicare Beneficiaries
  • Retiree Drug Subsidy
• Glossary

About the Authors:

Christopher M. Jedrey is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, based in Boston. He is co-partner-in-charge of its Boston Health practice, and national co-chairman of its Academic Medical Center practice. Nathan Kaufman is a Senior Vice President of Healthcare Strategy for Superior Consultant Company, Inc. and former President and Founder of The KAUFMAN Group, an established San Diego-based consulting company.