Leveraging Technology to Maximize Efficiencies in Today’s Challenging Respiratory Care Environment

The challenges imposed by healthcare reform are having an effect on the respiratory care landscape similar to the effect the tsunami had on the landscape of Japan; long established standards of care and traditional care delivery services cannot survive in such a financially challenging environment and are rapidly being assessed and modified to accommodate our new understanding of quality and effectiveness. To ignore the massive changes facing us and maintain the status quo is to deny the unsustainability of healthcare expenditures and put our ability to provide excellent patient care at risk. Spending on healthcare is estimated at 17.3% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and translates into over $2.3 trillion in costs per year1, an expense that is clearly unsustainable.