Healthcare organizations have been relatively slow to embrace information technology as a viable business tool. With governmental mandates, accrediting body requirements, and increases in the need to perform efficiently, healthcare organizations are being required to implement information technology solutions to capture the increasing demands of the market. With increasing competition, new reimbursement patterns, and diminishing profit margins, timely data is a necessity to remain viable and compete in the data-driven healthcare market. Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) will continue to be the technology leader by providing these solutions.

The SHP Information Technology strategy includes:

• • Web-based data collection tools that are easily deployed, platform-independent and scalable
• • Web-based data query tools that provide "slice and dice" and "ad hoc" query capability to all SHP customers
• • An SSL-secured extranet to host data transmissions from its customers, ensuring patient data confidentiality and security
• • A streamlined process for delivering comparative analysis reports to its customers using the SSL-secured extranet and evolving "Push" technology
• • Further development of Point-of-Care (POC) technology
• • Continuing focus on helping the agency to operate not just more efficiently, but also more profitably
• • Deeply embedded, realtime interfaces built into all significant Patient Management software systems
• • A "technology partnering" concept with its customers to learn more about their data processing needs, and to provide consulting services to assist them with their own information technology strategies and data management needs
• • Continued scaling of the most comprehensive private home healthcare benchmarking database
• • Continue to create event-driven analyses that provide timely, actionable information to clinicians and managers