First few Article Sentences
No one knows whether the health care reform law will withstand the series of challenges that now confront it in the courts, Congress, and the states. But one thing is certain: Whether it’s through decreasing fraud and abuse or increasing operational efficiency, the drive to cut health care administrative costs will continue, no matter how the health care reform battle turns out in 2011 and 2012.
As a result, we expect that health care payers (insurers, health plans, and self-funded employers) will keep increasing their use of purchased services through third-party administrators (TPAs), both onshore and offshore, in an effort to reduce unwanted overhead. For many, outsourcing makes a lot of sense in terms of jettisoning cumbersome, costly, and time-consuming tasks, processes, and functions. But once this decision is made, the work for health care payers just begins.