“Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” “Don’t boil the ocean.” “Less is more.” Pick your cliché about avoiding the risk of trying to do too much and accomplishing little. The fact is, all clichés have some truth to them — and “starting small” can lead to big results. Health and Human Services (HHS) […]
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For HHS agencies, the focus is on improving lives To slightly misquote Benjamin Disraeli, there are lies, damn lies, and analytics. Okay, let me say it another way. It’s not that “analytics” are actually lies, but – like “statistics” in Disraeli’s time – they can be misleading and, if not used and interpreted properly, can […]
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We’re always looking for ways to make the health care system work better for everyone, and enabling collaborative care coordination is one way to do that. When the power to coordinate care fits in the palm of your hand, it’s exciting. With the Optum approach to care coordination, users are able to leverage Optum data, […]
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There isn’t a single cure to address all of the challenges facing our health system, but there is a common goal. We all want a health system that treats patients compassionately, allocates resources efficiently, and provides quality care to those who need it — all without bankrupting ourselves or future generations. Too often we pursue […]
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Did you know that more than half of the information contained in electronic medical records is unusable to health care organizations? Mark Morsch, Optum360 Vice President of Technology, says studies show 60 to 80 percent of EMR content is unstructured. That means some data that could potentially be used to create a more complete picture […]
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Companies like Amazon, Zappos and Netflix continue to raise the bar. Consumer expectations related to service and tailored experiences have risen accordingly. Retail may have set the stage for these new norms, but consumers are increasingly expecting higher levels of service when interacting with all types of organizations — including health plans. To meet these […]
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As providers work to meet the demands of value-based care and population health management, they are discovering the importance of data and the ability to share that data. Often the focus is on the shareability of clinical data. But data sharing can also provide opportunities for efficiencies and cost savings in claims submissions and patient payments — […]
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Ready or not, here it comes — risk-based, fee-for-value health care is here or coming to a market near you! Health care providers are no longer asking whether they should get ready. They are asking: How fast should we make the transition? They know it may not be pretty. “Organizations need to set a goal […]
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The need for better care coordination becomes clear when you see the results of surveys showing the number of patients taking multiple medications and visiting multiple doctors. In spring of 2016, the New York Times reported on a national survey, conducted by Harvard researchers, that found 39 percent of people over age 65 use five or more […]
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One of the buzzwords in health care reform is “interoperability.” But what’s behind the buzz? Interoperability is the ability to share data across systems and analyze and use the data. But it’s not just about sharing for sharing’s sake. The goal is to use information to create bigger, more complete data sets that can power […]
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