Financial Times Highlights OpenConnect CEO Edward M. Peters’ Strategy to Curb Healthcare Costs

The World’s Leading Financial Newspaper

Dallas, TX June 15, 2009 - The Financial Times, widely viewed as the world’s leading financial newspaper, highlighted OpenConnect CEO Edward M. Peters’ strategy of curbing global healthcare costs. Peters led the discussion as the lead letter in the May 18th edition of the Financial Times.

Peters elaborated on this strategy, explaining that leading healthcare organizations are investing significant resources in capabilities that have borrowed a lesson from evidence-based management and focus their efforts on discovering and eliminating the true causes of excessive cost (e.g., high pending claim inventory). Additionally, some groups have been working to share best practices in both methods and technology in an effort to help the raise the output and thus lower the cost of the overall system. On the provider side of the equation, similar efforts are being undertaken by clinics and physicians themselves.

Peters further explains that “the root cause of ‘unbridgeable differences’ can be addressed by applying the lessons of the productivity revolutions of the 20th century, when manufacturing productivity surpassed 50x growth. Just imagine the cost savings that would be achieved if productivity improvements in the healthcare arena jumped 5,000% in the next decade? There would not be concern with ever-increase expenditures. Healthcare would realize order of magnitude increases in quality as well as a proliferation of services – as prices were driven down, or at the very least stabilized at current levels. Then, problems such as the rationing healthcare, would simply fall by the wayside”.

Peters further elaborates on this strategy in his forthcoming book, The Knowledge Gap, Toward the Evidence-based Practice of Management, forthcoming later this year.

OpenConnect Comprehend helps healthcare organizations significantly improve operations by al providing continuous, real-time views into the activities and variations that affect day-to-day operations. Armed with this actionable intelligence, executives can “Stop Guessing and Start Knowing” and make the immediate improvements that increase process efficiency, improve employee productivity and raise profitability.

Many healthcare organizations have significantly improved operations with Comprehend. In recent deployments, OpenConnect Comprehend has resulted in savings of millions in cost savings to the customer -- in the first year.

About OpenConnect

OpenConnect business process discovery and analytics solutions deliver event-driven intelligence to automatically discover workforce, process and customer variations that hinder operational efficiency. Armed with this information, executives can make the quick and incremental improvements that will increase process efficiency, improve employee productivity, reduce cost, and raise profitability. With a rich history of developing innovative technology, OpenConnect's products are distributed in more than 60 countries and used by more than 60 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information on OpenConnect, visit www.oc.com.