News in brief - June 13, 2011

Patient confidence in affording medical care improves

Consumers are feeling better about their ability to pay for health care as the recession loosens its grip.

The Consumer Healthcare Sentiment Index, released May 31 by Thomson Reuters' Center for Healthcare Analytics, went up to 98 for May from 95 in April.

The index was launched in December 2009 with a baseline of 100 and is based on surveys of 3,000 households.

Much of the growth was driven by the retrospective part of the index that measures patients' capacity to pay for care within the past three months.

The retrospective index grew from 93 in April to 98 in May.

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Health care organizations save money by using cloud solutions

Thirty percent of health care organizations have either implemented cloud computing or have plans to do so, according to CDW's 2011 Cloud Computing Tracking Poll.

The company surveyed 1,200 health IT decision-makers from eight industry sectors, including health care, on their use of cloud computing. It found that 37% of health care organizations have a written strategic plan for the adoption of cloud computing; 25% are in the implementation phase; 22% are planning; and 5% have a system. Eleven percent are not considering a cloud solution.

The survey also found that 88% of health care cloud users have reduced the cost of applications moved to the cloud an average of 20% (webobjects.cdw.com/webobjects/media/pdf/newsroom/cdw-cloud-tracking-poll-report-0511.pdf).

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State official sets conditions on Delaware Blues-Highmark deal

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware will have to set aside some of its reserves for public use before it can affiliate with Pittsburgh-based Highmark, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden announced June 1.

The deal, proposed in August 2010, would make Highmark the parent company of Delaware's largest health insurer.

Officials with the Blues plan said the arrangement would give it access to badly needed capital to pay for technology and infrastructure it could not afford on its own.

Under state law, Biden said, the affiliation qualifies as a "conversion," and therefore will require the company to establish a nonprofit foundation for the benefit of the public.

Highmark and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware released corporate statements saying they were "disappointed" with Biden's decision, but that they were still reviewing the determination.

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