More and more healthcare organizations are moving towards value-based care (pay for performance) and this means that interoperability is more important than ever. The new revenue model depends on full-scale data usability so that performance metrics can evaluate how well the healthcare institution is doing against pre-determined benchmarks.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) even employed a penalization for hospitals that can’t keep readmission within a certain range. See U.S News Article Even with the penalization in effect, only 24 percent of hospitals are meeting Medicare’s goal.
So why would these hospitals risk losing all this money? They cannot help it; the organizations lack the necessary tools to accomplish the task. In December 2011, the outgoing Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Donald Berwick, asserted that 20% to 30% of health care spending is a waste. Article here
How can we reduce the waste and improve outcomes for healthcare organizations?
By gathering, cleaning, and analyzing data from the disparate systems of the organization, we contribute to improving outcomes. Finding areas of waste allow a health organization the opportunity to improve their position amongst the competition. A value-based market is only going to increase the need to be competitive. As people become aware that they can choose a healthcare center, performance metrics will influence the decision-making process for the consumer.
Since the PAYOR ties the amount they pay to the quality and efficiency of the healthcare services, data interoperability is necessary to compete.
Making all the current systems interoperable allows insight to the data. BIG DATA analysis gives direction on where to spend resources to make necessary improvements.
We at Rural Health IT Corporation have spent the last decade solving your interoperable questions. With the help of partners Electronic Health Network Inc. (EHN) and Pitney Bowes, we have arrived at a feasible, cost-effective solution.
By starting with a preexisting technology that Pitney Bowes had used for years in the Postal Service, we modified it for interoperable healthcare data management. Flexible in its function, this interoperable solution is extremely adaptable to pre-existing systems. There is no need to disrupt the current workflows.
With the interoperability of data, algorithms can be written to help calculate risk scores for patients.
These findings can assist in determining what type of care is best suited for the individual. We can make smarter more accurate recommendations based on the collected data, creating a conducive environment for Population Healthcare Management.
The future success of healthcare organizations relies on the ability to make widespread use of data, and that means interoperability for everyone.
