Accenture Top Issues for Payors

Peter Kongstvedt is a partner at Accenture (and former colleague of mine from E&Y). He has always produced great articles and publications on healthcare. I was happy to have someone send me a link to one of his more recent publications on the Top Issues for Payors in 2007 and 2008.  It is certainly more interesting if you are a payor or consultant, but here were two things that I thought most people would find interesting.

Here is a quote which I think is really one of the core issues.  How to make data driven decisions versus experience to drive healthcare.  Not easy in a splintered industry with disparate data.

Promoting medical practice that is based on current scientific data rather than on habit or outdated information remains a top goal for every payer.

Another fact which I have always found very interesting is the chart below on the concentration of health care expenses.  Almost 80% of all healthcare expenses are from 15% of the population.  Amazing concentration.  Great from a marketing perspective but tough from a risk management perspective.