US health reform may make health organizations' current business practices and markets irrelevant, says PwC

Health organizations in the USA face more than 60 major regulatory deadlines over the next 10 years to meet the timetable and goals of US health reform, and the changes will create a profoundly different health care environment in which current business practices and markets may no longer be relevant, according to a new report published today by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute.

Opportunities are embedded in new changes, but to prosper in a post-reform environment, health executives will need to think out of the box, break down silos and make friends of former adversaries. And there are implications for the pharmaceutical industry.

PwC's report, titled Health Reform: Prospering in a post-reform world is the first analysis of health reform changes and how they will affect health organizations in the context of megatrends reshaping health are delivery. Implications are outlined in detail for each of the health sectors, including insurance companies, hospitals, physicians and other providers, pharmaceutical companies and life sciences companies. It outlines a vision for what the health care landscape might look like after a decade of reform, and offers recommendations on what organizations can do now to turn challenges into opportunities tomorrow.