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Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC (PwC) has released a report citing the top health industry issues of 2011 that have been prompted by health reform. The report says that "2011 is a makeover year for health industry organizations reacting to and preparing for new rules and payment models. Continuing cost pressures and new customer demands require a fresh look at existing roles of industry players."

The report notes that consumers may be the ones that get left behind "as the industry tosses around the pros and cons of health reform terms such as health insurance exchange and accountable care organization (See our  blog on the implications of ACOs for medical device manufacturers). For this year’s Top Health Industry Issues, PwC’s Health Research Institute asked consumers their point of view on several issues related to reform.
The six major issues cited in the report include the following:

• 2011 looks to be a record year for health information technology (HIT) spending, boosted by new government regulations and tight deadlines by which to meet them. More than $88.6 billion was spent by providers in 2010 on developing and implementing electronic health records (EHRs), health information exchanges (HIEs) and other (HIT) initiatives.
• The percent of insurance premium dollars allocated to providing care, known as the medical loss ratio (MLR), will be a primary focus of the government and the health insurance industry.
• The health reform law will create a new type of care model, called the ACO). Under the health reform law, ACOs focus on managing a discrete Medicare population. However, ACO has already become a metaphor for the larger issue of population health management by disparate parties within the health system—parties that are looking for a new way to provide care while managing costs. Under this broader description, ACOs encompass a spectrum of models that include physicians, hospitals, payers, and vendors under a basic premise of shared risks and rewards based on patient outcomes.
• Higher deductibles and other costs could cause consumers to decrease or delay treatment.
• Deal activity in all health sectors is on an upward trend that will continue into 2011. Companies will be looking for growth as well as to fill in services along the continuum of care. The activity could traverse unlikely terrain as suppliers buy providers, as health plans team with providers, and as pharma and life sciences companies get into more services along the care pathway. However, healthcare organizations could have competition for acquisitions. The numbers of private equity funds interested in healthcare is on the rise.
• Physicians and patients expect increasing amounts of health-related information, anytime and anywhere. PwC says one implication of this is that as more payers turn to performance-based pay, the business model for providers and pharma and device companies centers on improving care through connectivity and better information that leads to healthier outcomes and greater efficiency.

The report is packed with insights into the healthcare landscape of 2011. It is definitely worth reading.