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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Med software CEO: All U.S. candidates good

  Whoever wins November's presidential vote, health insurers and the contractors who sell them information technology expect to win big new contracts and revenues, says Ned Moore, chief executive officer at Portico Systems, a Blue Bell software company that helps health plans manage costs.
  That’s because the three main candidates – Republican McCain and Democrats Clinton and Obama – all say they support programs to insure more Americans.  “No matter who gets elected, you’re going to see some kind of legislation addressing that problem of 45 million people who don’t have coverage,” says Moore. 
  “We’re seeing a pretty clear acceptance by the market that something is going to happen with some kind of federal or hybrid state-federal program that will create products to get these people healthcare coverage,” he added. “That’s bipartisan,” and a big change from previous elections. “Five years ago we weren’t so sure the government should be controlling that much money. Those discussions have gone by the wayside after five years of healthcare spending increases and drops in company contribution levels. The idea is ‘We’re paying to care for the uninsured anyway. Let’s get the cost under control.’”
  Cost control sounds like a threat to many healthcare workers, but it's music to the ears of data crunchers whose services figure to be in demand.

  That’s not to say the three candidates are interchangeable. “The Clinton plan is really requiring people to sign up for insurance, while the Obama plan is trying to make it affordable so more people will go get it, and to go after the 15 percent administrative costs, which are so much higher than costs in retail, for example. But they are very similar in how they will deal with patients,  quality of care, transparency around cost," Moore added.
  Both Democrats "are describing Federally-funded products. By contrast, McCain is talking about how to get insurance to the uninsured, maybe thorugh tax credits, pay for performance, non-reimbursement for non-events. It’s different how you fund it, but it still means a major investment in technology, in proposing plans and provider investments in information technology that shows consumers anrd reporting agencies what their cost structure is, and how it relates to premiums. And that’s a pretty big opportunity for us.”
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About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column, which is printed in the business pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Joe has worked at the Inquirer, mostly, since 1988. He has also written for Bloomberg and Gannett, authored the book Comcasted, majored in economics at Penn, and fathered six children. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com

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