Savings of $332 billion in national health expenditure could be achieved over the next decade by making better use of technology and streamlining administrative processes, according to a new report released today by UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Reform and Modernization.

The report is a companion to the Center’s first paper released in May that identified $540 billion in potential federal medical cost savings by applying to traditional Medicare some of the well-tested techniques UnitedHealth Group uses in the funding and management of care for more than 70 million Americans.

This second research report provides practical ways in which technology can save money by modernizing the administrative and transactional aspects of health care. The paper’s focus is on savings across the health care system as a whole – savings that will accrue to physicians, hospitals and health plans, and to consumers, employers and the government.

“There is too much administrative waste in our health care system – this report shows how technology can help fix it,” said Simon Stevens, executive vice president, UnitedHealth Group, and director of the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization. “Patients, physicians, hospitals, and insurers will benefit from applying streamlined modern approaches to the day-to-day support of care delivery. Now is the time to insist these changes happen across the health care system.”

The report estimates that perhaps half of the $332 billion savings would accrue to physicians and hospitals, 20 percent directly to the government in its role as a healthcare payer through Medicare and Medicaid, and 30 percent to health plans.