Expenditures on healthcare products and services in the U.S. in 2002 were $1.5 trillion, representing 15% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Spending in the healthcare sector is projected to grow to $2.2 trillion by 2008. There are several factors driving this growth. healthcare information is becoming broadly available to consumers, which is expanding basic demand. People over 65 consume three times the amount of healthcare services as the general population, and the number of Americans in this category will double in the next 30 years.
Information technology advances will affect all areas of pre-clinical and clinical trials, including patient recruitment and selection, data capture, data analysis and post market surveillance. Adverse event detection, reporting and analysis will also be impacted. Superior outcomes characterization will yield more effective treatment protocols and clinical pathways. Soft tissue imaging, expert remote diagnosis, remote treatment, remote second opinion and data-based case management will all be advanced to control costs and improve outcomes. Our specific areas of interest include:- Pharmaceutical outsourcing
- Private-pay components of healthcare services (dental & medical)
- Long-term care in private pay market
- Consumer-driven health plans
- Revenue cycle services (coding, billing, etc.)
- Predictive modeling: databases for identifying high-risk patients for more effective care management
- Disease management: a system of coordinated healthcare interventions and communications for populations with conditions in which patient self-care efforts are significant
- HEDIS reporting: HEDIS is a set of standardized performance measures designed to ensure that purchasers and consumers have the information they need to compare the performance of managed health care plans.
Examples of Investments in Healthcare IT and Business Services:
Examples of investments that we have previously made in this sector
include the following companies:
- eMed Technologies: Provider of software, communications infrastructure products and Internet services products to radiology professionals.
- Galt Associates: Specialist in pharmacovigilance support and Web-based compliance and analysis solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.
- MedAptus: Developer of customized workflow applications for wireless, handheld technologies to healthcare providers.
- PAREXEL International: One of the world’s largest contract pharmaceutical outsourcing organizations.
- PHT Corp: PHT is a private provider of technology and management systems to support clinical trial research.
- Proteome : Provider of a variety of protein and genomic research services to the pharmaceutical industry.
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