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PHILADELPHIA – Regardless of the outcome of the 2008 presidential election - whether it be Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain - some experts feel healthcare is destined for a major change.
The inevitable change will be driven mainly by bipartisan interest in finding a way to cover 47 million uninsured, according to Ned Moore, CEO for Portico Systems, outside of Philadelphia.
Smart companies will plan now for the change to come, Moore said. "Many companies still use paper enrollment, and that's not going to work when you start talking about open enrollment for 47 million people," he said.
Moore co-founded Portico, now a leader in providing network solutions for the provider side of companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Care First and Centene.
"We talk to our customers and say, `Start peeling the onion back,' this is going to take a lot of technology ready to handle this in an efficient and effective manner," Moore said. States will likely manage federally-funded plans through private companies.
States will have to design products, submit plans and engage provider networks to administer the new system. "It's going to have a huge impact on our market," Moore said. "Independent of healthcare IT or anything else, any time you infuse that many people into a current system, it's going to have a major impact."



