Big Data Analytics Crucial for Value-Based Care Implementation
Investing in big data analytics capabilities may be the key to value-based care implementation as well as improving clinical efficiency and patient engagement.
- When it comes to value-based care implementation, providers are faced with a multi-faceted project that oftentimes requires an organization to overhaul its care delivery and operational foundation to achieve the Triple Aim.
The key to successfully adopting value-based care, however, may be to invest in robust big data analytics capabilities to assess cost and quality performance as well as monitor and improve an organization’s progress with meeting value-based care goals, such as care coordination and patient engagement, said Steven Strongwater, MD, President and CEO of Atrius Health and speaker at the upcoming Value-Based Care Summit on November 15 in Boston.
“The world has moved much further forward with electronic medical records and developed more sophisticated abilities to not only capture, but analyze data,” Strongwater told RevCycleIntelligence.com. “There is also better alignment between using that data and a focus on better outcomes where patient experience is a part of the equation.”
Strongwater explained that big data analytics tools can help providers better identify clinical inefficiencies and at-risk patient populations to improve care coordination and patient engagement.
For example, Strongwater stated that data analytics can help providers pinpoint patient populations at risk for congestive heart failure and prevent adverse, expensive events.
“You identify those people through your records since they might have an echocardiogram with low ejection fraction,” he said. “You then have the ability to monitor their weight and weight fluctuations even before they reach the point of congestive heart failure and show up in the emergency room.”
“You can also intervene with them through biometrics or telephone intervention, or if that’s not sufficient, you can deploy a nurse practitioner to their home and treat them at home. You avoid the emergency visit, disruption in their work life if they are working, and you can prevent some of the complications of heart failure that can lead to higher costs.”
Listen to the full interview with Steven Strongwater, MD:
Strongwater also emphasized how data-driven value-based care models help providers to better engage patients with their own health, especially since providers can identify at-risk patients and work with them to improve access to care and outcomes.
“My expectation in our practice is that value-based care is going to improve patient experience. It’s going to improve outcomes,” he noted. “It’s going to improve shared decision-making and end-of-life care decision-making. For us, it’s going to be a partnership.”
At Atrius Health, a Massachusetts-based non-profit healthcare system and seasoned Pioneer accountable care organization, their long history in investing in data analytics as well as Lean improvement made it easier to align data with value-based care objectives. But providers can start value-based care implementation by developing big data analytics infrastructure, Strongwater advised.
“In the near-term, the hope would be that infrastructure could be built that is forward capable and scalable,” Strongwater remarked. “That includes the ability to capture and analyze data as well as the ability to provide feedback to the clinicians, so they can begin to manage those populations.”
The next step, he added, would be to translate big data insights into actionable plans to improve quality of care and reduce healthcare costs.
Looking forward, Strongwater suggested that providers seek more predictive analytics tools to improve population health management, a core component of value-based care.
“We are at the beginning of that big data analytics journey in healthcare,” he said. “What we will see is predictive analytics that will be much more valuable in identifying people who are at risk and being able to intervene in those populations so that those patients get earlier intervention and prevention programs. It will also lower total medical expenses and improve their experience.”
While Strongwater voiced the benefits of value-based care, he also stated that data-driven models may increase administrative burden.
“To a large extent, we have been victims of good intent,” said Strongwater. “Payers wanting us to measure things, regulators wanting us to do things, the implementation of the electronic medical record have all added burdens to the workday of clinicians. For every hour of face-to-face patient contact time, there’s two hours of documentation time.”
“What has happened is that the work demand has expanded and it hasn’t necessarily added any value to the patient experience. You have these highly committed clinicians who want to do the best for their patients, but they also have to meet all those other requirements. That has put people in a bind.”
As a result, healthcare organizations are seeing higher rates of provider burnout that threaten those patient-provider partnerships that are critical to value-based care success, Strongwater stated.
“As it turns out, doctors who are not well may or may not be able to do all the things necessary for their patients,” he continued. “We know that patients have this role reversal if they see their doctors aren’t well. They don’t share all their concerns with the doctor for they feel the doctor is going to become more overwhelmed. You miss things.”
Strongwater stated that healthcare organizations need to restructure provider workflows in relation to health IT use to reduce and prevent the burnout effect.
“What I want to convey is that this is not a clinician problem,” he said. “This is more of a workflow problem.”
“The electronic medical record hasn’t evolved to the point as it has in other industries, such as the banking and airline industries, where electronics have made work easier,” he added. “In healthcare, it’s made it more complicated and we need to somehow figure out a way to flip that.”
Atrius Health has taken steps to reduce provider burnout through five work streams that focus on professional satisfaction, the build-out of physician communities, fair compensation, workflow improvement, and flexibility.
“The hope is that by working on all five of those work streams, where we own a good part of the workflow, including our investment in proving how the electronic medical record works, that we’ll be able to improve provider wellness,” Strongwater said.
By rectifying workflow issues, Atrius Health intends to strengthen its value-based care efforts, especially as they relate to improving the patient experience.
“What value-based care means to us is kind of a raison d’etre; it’s what we do every day,” Strongwater stated. “Our focus is always on patient as the true north. We want to have the best patient experience and we want to make sure, especially as there are increasing out-of-pocket costs for these high deductible health plans, that we are partners in their care.”
To learn more about how big data analytics can help providers successfully transition to value-based care, join us at the Value-Based Care Summit on November 15, 2016 in Boston.
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