As the U.S. health system shifts away from fee-for-service medicine to value-based care, just one-third of hospitals say they have the necessary information technology systems in place to manage populations of patients.
A new survey unveiled at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference says about one-third, or 38% of U.S. hospitals and health systems surveyed “indicated that population health tools were in place in their organization.”
Having information systems in place to manage populations of patients is critical as health insurance companies and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under the Obama administration aggressively shift paying doctors and hospitals from a fee-for-service system that is known to lead to unnecessary and excess treatments when providers get paid no matter the outcome to a value-based system that rewards quality.
Health systems are forming entities like accountable care organizations that require information systems that can monitor patients making sure they get the right care, at the right place at the right time whether it be sending them reminders on checkups or letting doctors know they are taking their medications. Outreach to patients, keeping them well and out of the expensive hospital setting, is key to population health.
“As healthcare organizations work to transition to value-based care, increased emphasis and resources are being focused on enabling true population health management,” Carla Smith, executive vice president of HIMSS North America said in a statement to Forbes. “With data-driven analytics technologies maturing, we expect to see a further uptick this year in the use of health IT to enable a 360-degree view of patient populations.”
HIMSS survey defined population health management “tools” as being able to measure patient data that was reported but it wasn’t intended to provide an immediate response.
HIMSS 26th annual survey, which had 330 respondents, said 51% said “IT was being used to improve population health.” Most of the respondents worked in the executive suites of health care systems.
About one in four surveyed said they didn’t provide any population services listed in the report such as telemedicine, “enterprise population health management,” remote coaching or education of patients, let alone “real-time remote patient monitoring.”
The lack of population health or strategies has created an opportunity for health IT providers and health insurance companies.
Health insurers like
Wondering how the Affordable Care Act pushes population health? The Forbes eBook Inside Obamacare: The Fix For America’s Ailing Health Care System answers that question and more. Available now at Amazon andApple.
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