hospital impact

by Tony Chen

Well, it's that time of year again when we take a moment to reflect on Healthcare in '07. Go here to check out FierceHealthcare's Annual Review where they highlight these trends and get this conversation started:

1. The push for price and quality data transparency
2. Growing acceptance of retail clinics
3. Broader use of pay-for-performance programs
4. A shift away from payment for medical errors
5. Proliferation of physician ratings by consumers and health insurers
6. Tremendous pressure to adopt electronic medical records
7. Controversy over the future of regional health information organizations
(Source: FierceHealthcare.com)

I'm not convinced that P4P is really "business as usual." And I'd put 4 & 5 more as early trends, not very widespread quite yet. But nonetheless, I think this is a great list.

A few things I would add:

- 2007 was a banner year for the biggest hospital transactions ever - think back to all the M&As and all the public-to-private transactions (i.e. HCA!). Outsiders see potential even as we are missing it.

- Speaking of outsiders, 2007 will also be remembered as a year when many outsiders are starting to get in. RevolutionHealth, Virgin, Google, and Microsoft all made big announcements and/or launches into the healthcare arena. Time will tell.

- 2007 was also the first year in a long while that we've heard the words "universal healthcare" beyond just the typical wonkish journals. For better or worse, the idea caught some attention, no doubt with the help of Sicko

- 2007 was the year health 2.0 was born. I've done numerous posts on web 2.0 sites, facebook, and social media. The Health Care Blog held its first Health 2.0 conference as a smashing success (400+ attendees). Not much relevant to hospitals at this point. But lots more patients will be using these technologies, so ignore them at your own peril.

What did we miss? What else?