Technology is playing a major role in helping healthcare reform achieve its goal of making care available and affordable to all U.S. citizens.  As the government works to set firm guidelines for adherence and rein in spiraling costs it is incumbent upon healthcare providers and payers to find ways to reduce costs and eliminate waste.

One way they are cutting costs is by reducing inefficiencies in areas such as procurement and finance.  Automating purchasing and invoice processing  and implementing e-invoicing ,  for example, enable healthcare providers to reduce processing costs, while providing other benefits such as decreased errors, as well as visibility and control over the entire process.

With this visibility, healthcare providers can better manage spend and find additional ways to cut costs.  The insights they gain into spend and cash flow across their organizations allow them to identify opportunities for savings – such as volume discounts and early-payment discounts.

One large non-profit healthcare provider, for example, that worked with us to automate AP operations was able to not only improve processes and reduce approval times with fewer resources, but also to drastically cut costs.

These are just some of the behind-the-scenes ways that functions such as AP and procurement, are helping to bring about a new era in healthcare reform.

Bob Cohen is Vice President, North America for Basware, a leading provider of cloud-based purchase-to-pay and e-invoicing solutions that enable better buying, better selling and connected commerce for organizations around the world. For more information, contact , or call 203-487-7900.