Are accountable care organizations (ACOs) the future of health care? In Washington, DC and throughout the country, a lot of people are betting that they are. Designed to improve the coordination and quality of care and lower costs for Medicare patients, ACOs are considered an important step in the effort to move Medicare – and […]
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Lehigh Valley Health Network was already a pretty stellar health care organization. After all, it had been listed in US News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” 20 years running, and the American Hospital Association had numbered it among the “100 Most Wired” in 11 consecutive years. But the Pennsylvania provider wasn’t about to rest […]
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In the era of health care reform, the mandate for providers is clear: Keep patients healthy and out of the hospital, improve patient satisfaction and reduce costs. Across the country, health care systems are grappling with how to achieve these goals. Even for the very best, this isn’t an easy task. One of the organizations […]
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The highest quality data does no one any good if the information is locked up in silos, unable to be shared. Now the tools of health care are changing in a way that will allow data to be accessed and analyzed. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Health Information Exchanges (HIE) represent two of the top […]
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When just beginning the shift to data-driven value-based care, health care providers can start by focusing on one clearly defined population. But true population health management is about successfully administering care for all patients attributed to an organization. So how do providers travel the path from novice to intermediate levels of care management? Once a […]
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The trend of providers taking on care coordination functions that have typically been the domain of payers is an encouraging one. Care coordination is a natural role for provider organizations, who can further their role as change agents for the many patients who need to get engaged in their own health. Care coordination relies on […]
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As the health care industry adapts to the Affordable Care Act and value-based care, provider networks and their size are making news. Insurers are ditching large preferred provider organizations in favor of narrower networks. The appeal is easy to see. In a Huffington Post blog, President and CEO of the New York State Health Foundation James […]
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Today, substance use disorders (SUDs) among people ages 18 to 25 far exceeds that of adults 26 and older. Substance use disorder encompasses abuse of alcohol and drugs, the use of illegal substances such as heroin, as well as legal substances such as prescription medications not prescribed or recommended by a physician. While the overall […]
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Even the most practiced at population health management may struggle with one factor deemed by many to be crucial for success as an accountable care organization or ACO. The challenge? Implementing a health IT infrastructure and data analytics strategy. Health IT Analytics lists analytics as a defining capability of successful ACOs. It reports that a robust […]
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An effective analytics strategy can help provider organizations control costs and identify risks and opportunities – key techniques to succeeding in a world of payments based on outcomes rather than volume. Any effective analytical strategy needs three elements. 1. Highly accurate data Analytics tools that provide the most usable insights generally draw data from a […]
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