ATLANTA, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NDCHealth Corporation ended its annual pharmaceutical industry conference, "Industry Forum 2004: A Changing Industry," last week after two days of discussion regarding the political, economic and social forces afoot that are reshaping U.S. healthcare delivery and mounting pressure on drug manufacturers.
More than 140 pharmaceutical leaders attended the event, which this year featured notable industry, government and company thought leaders, including noted healthcare experts former Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Thomas A. Scully.
Throughout the program, speakers identified a myriad of short- and long- term healthcare industry challenges driving change. Key among these drivers is the Medicare Drug Benefit, which is predicted to result in constant and increasing pricing pressure on the pharmaceutical industry. Once the discount card benefit variations convert to a Medicare Part D in 2006, CMS will assume the role of purchasing 60 percent of the pharmaceutical drugs in the country.
In his keynote address, "Transforming Healthcare in America," Former Speaker Newt Gingrich stated that contrary to conventional wisdom, "Dynamic change in healthcare isn't a future vision, but rather the reality for an industry catching up with the last 30 years of technology innovation." Gingrich also predicted that:
* The next 25 years of the 21st century will bring more scientific
discoveries and innovation than have the last 100 years.
* The private sector -- especially companies like NDCHealth -- will play
a critical role in this transformation. Consumers, commercial firms
and public payers will all demand more healthcare choices of higher
quality at lower cost.
* Connecting all these parties across the enterprise and replacing
archaic, costly, time-consuming and error-prone manual processes will
be essential. "In fact," Gingrich added, "not to do so would be
inexcusable."
In his keynote address, "Perspectives on the Medicare Drug Benefit," Scully predicted, "In the next two to three years, healthcare will change in ways the pharmaceutical industry can't yet understand." He also noted:
* Drugs are about to become the driving force of Medicare, and Medicare
the driving force of the pharmaceutical industry.
* Overall the pharmaceutical distribution system is growing, regardless,
but there will be a shake up in dynamics.
* Political forces behind Medicare Reform anchored on the disadvantaged.
Government will seek to engage the market more dynamically and to price
its purchases in consideration of quality and outcome impact.
NDCHealth unveiled at Industry Forum 2004 its new suite of next-generation Information Management products focused on "Quality, Insight and Impact." Anchoring the solutions is the Intelligent Health Repository (IHR), the industry's best diagnosis-to-drug linked healthcare information repository. NDCHealth continues to integrate IHR data with that from ArcLight, a pharmacy data partnership comprised of several leading retail pharmacies and a major healthcare product and service company. The resulting repository and related analytics will provide pharmaceutical companies unparalleled insight into therapy compliance and persistency and a better understanding of the longitudinal effectiveness of drug treatments. In addition, information products will enable pharmaceutical companies to better manage product life cycles, enhance pricing and formulary decisions, and provide more effective targeting and compensation support.
During his address, Walter Hoff, NDCHealth chairman and CEO, unfolded NDCHealth's strategy to further develop healthcare's Electronic Highway.
"With nearly 50 percent of the nation's electronic health transmissions already coursing through NDCHealth's networks, nearly unlimited opportunities exist to support our customers in improving market intelligence and in creating optimal market interventions," said Hoff.
Hoff further stated, "We hold a unique position at the center of healthcare -- providing connectivity and information solutions to all industry sectors including pharmacy, hospital, physician and payer. Through this connectivity we can offer healthcare providers enhanced workflow and information exchange, as well as unmatched market insights to pharmaceutical companies to support them in healthcare delivery and their sales and marketing efforts."
About NDCHealth Industry Forum 2004
NDCHealth Industry Forum 2004 is recognized as a leading annual pharmaceutical industry premier event. Sponsored by NDCHealth, the event hosts pharmaceutical marketing, sales, and research and development management and provides them with topical and relevant marketplace information. This year Industry Forum was held at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Spa and Resort located in Phoenix, Ariz. Other guest speakers included Dr. Kenneth Thorpe, Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Emory University; Frank Segrave, Vice President, Pharmacy, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as well as several members of NDCHealth's executive management team. For video highlights of the keynote addresses, please visit http://www.ndchealth.com/industryforum2004/index.asp
About NDCHealth
NDCHealth is a leading provider of health information solutions that add value to pharmacy, hospital, physician, pharmaceutical and payer businesses. For more information, please contact the company at http/http://www.ndchealth.com/ .
NDCHealthCONTACT: Robin Wrinn of NDCHealth, +1-404-728-2214, orrobin.wrinn@ndchealth.com