IT Heads for Healthcare

With interest in the BFSI segment waning, healthcare is emerging as the hot

new vertical to reckon with and tap into in tomorrow’s wired-up world

The days of riding high on ‘e’ are over. Among the new verticals in vogue

are healthcare and biotech.

It is not new to see buzzwords floating around and bursting into thin air,

but this time round, the IT industry seems to have a long-term player in

hand. According to a Gartner report, the current market size of the global

healthcare care industry is estimated at $ 4 trillion. The report also says that

healthcare will command an IT spend of $68 billion in 2002 and will grow at a

compound annual growth rate of 13.2%.

For India, it means tremendous opportunities and the need for companies to

equip themselves first with vertical specific skill sets. Healthcare is a major

practice for Cognizant Technology Solutions. Says Mohan Narayanan, director

(healthcare practice), Cognizant Technology Solutions, "The healthcare

industry is becoming increasingly complex by the day. The pressure points

relating to the quality of care, time-to-market, administrative costs, and

regulatory compliance have exponentially increased its dependency on

IT. People expertise is a primary requisite for success in this domain.

Keeping this in mind, we have developed a bank of trained staff that handles

different engagements in this segment."  

Meanwhile, armed with a slew of healthcare solutions, Wipro Technologies is

gunning for a major marketshare in this segment. The company has created a new

business unit called Wipro Healthcare and Life Sciences. Says Azim Premji,

chairman, Wipro, "Our thrust on healthcare and life sciences is aimed at

improving shareholder value. We strongly believe that IT will revolutionize this

segment."

Healthcare offers immense scope for a range of IT solutions. Comments Mohan,

"IT will bring administrative efficiency and reduce paperwork.

Approximately $250 billion was spent in the US on medical claims paperwork

alone. Another factor is quality of care solutions. For instance medical errors

in the US translate into $7 billion in cost terms and 1,00,000 lives lost. Here

the opportunity lies in IT solutions like case management, e-prescriptions, and

clinical administration systems. The third driver is bio-informatics. The fourth

and major opportunity comes from compliance management solutions." 

The healthcare industry has to comply to several regulations. For instance,

the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is at the

threshold of implementation in the US. HIPAA is a federal regulation that is

aimed at bringing simplicity and integrity to the healthcare industry by

standardizing the electronic exchange of administrative and financial data. By

mid 2003, all hospitals in the US have to be HIPAA compliant. The role of IT

here will be to ensure that all the systems and solutions are HIPAA compliant.

Analysts estimate that the US healthcare industry will spend around $ 15 billion

on HIPAA compliance alone. Wipro has put in place a HIPAA Center of

excellence. 

In the pink of health The current market size for healthcare is estimated at $4 trillion The segment will command an IT spend of $68 billion in 2002 Approximately $250 billion is spent annually in the US on medical claims paperwork alone Compliance management solutions will be the major driver for IT in this space

Cognizant on its part is offering a slew of HIPAA solutions in the realm of

online training, remedy planning, implementation, and post implementation

support. Comments Kumar Mahadeva, chairman and CEO, Cognizant, "Our HIPAA

methodology and program management expertise enables healthcare organizations to

smoothly transition to a HIPAA compliant era."

In the United States, care is delivered and administered mostly by commercial

health organizations, and there are 5,000 hospitals and 6,00, 000 physicians.

Moreover, healthcare entities across the world are vying for a greater market

share, and many have embarked on a major automation drive. India with its pool

of hi-tech talent is all set to make IT happen in this segment. 

G Shrikanth in Chennai