Actionable analytics require robust platform infrastructure
Most healthcare organizations lack the digital infrastructure necessary for VBC. “We can’t graft a new digital, platform-based healthcare system onto healthcare infrastructure designed to support traditional operations and care models,” writes Mayo Clinic President and CEO Gianrico Farrugia in an article for the World Economic Forum. “Healthcare needs transformation. And to truly transform healthcare, we must simultaneously build physical and digital frameworks to meet the evolving needs of patients worldwide.”

The good news is that healthcare organizations can implement VBC without resorting to a costly rip-and-replace strategy. Doing so requires a platform infrastructure to integrate the data layers seamlessly, then extend that data layer either as a DaaS (Data as a Service) or as a PaaS (Platform as a Service) so that partner firms and/or clients can use existing applications served up via microservices or extend/create microservices and business applications for their own needs. Such a platform should enable risk-bearing entities to collect and synthesize data (including unstructured data) from electronic health records (EHRs), pharmacy records, demographic information, and data on Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) to build a 360-degree profile of their patient populations and different cohorts, such as individuals over age 60 with three or more chronic conditions, for instance.

Generating actionable analytics helps ACOs and other risk-bearers develop targeted preventive strategies and collaborative care plans aimed at the highest-risk cohorts. By aligning primary with specialty care, ACOs can help patients with chronic illnesses better manage their conditions. Analytics alone, however, can’t ensure care alignment. Operational contract management is the crucial third element.

Integrating analytics with flexible workflow capabilities is the recipe for ACO success by enabling:

• Stratification of the attributed population and management of patient outreach to engage polychronic patients, or those with social needs – proactively deploying time and resources where high-touch engagement is needed

Business Affairs Homepage