The Advisory Board Company research briefing outlines nine strategies for effective population health management.
There is a paradigm shift in the healthcare industry with new business models emerging driven by healthcare reform, aging Baby Boomers enrolling in Medicare, ‘big data’ analytics, and chronic disease. These forces are causing healthcare organizations to focus on business models centered on comprehensive care and management of total risk. Healthcare organizations must ask themselves:
- What businesses should you be in?
- Who will your partners be?
- What is your role in the communities you serve?
To answer those questions, a new research briefing from The Advisory Board Company advises healthcare organizations transitioning to population health management to prioritize on the following three foundational elements:
1. Information-powered clinical decision-making
Population health leaders need to focus on data and information that will increasingly power clinical decisions. To achieve competitive advantage in your IT investments, you must be able to use the wealth of information at your disposal to deliver information-powered care to patients in real time.
2. Primary care-led clinical workforce
Advances in information-driven care will have a profound impact on the clinical workforce. Next generation technology will support providers in advancing clinical care to help establish high-quality, low-cost pathways. Technology will also allow providers to extend the reach of the workforce.
3. Patient engagement and community integration
If you are going to partner with patients in managing their health- and especially if you are going to be at financial risk for the health of those patients- you must integrate into patients’ daily lives.
Within these three key elements, the briefing outlines nine strategies for effective population health management.
Information-powered clinical decision-making
- Use robust patient data sets to support proactive, comprehensive care
- Operate within an integrated data network
- Position a leader to merge data analytics with clinical care
Primary care-led clinical workforce
- Elevate PCP to “CEO” of care team
- Mobilize community workforce to extend care team reach
Patient engagement and community integration
- Map services to population need
- Overcome non-clinical barriers to maximize health outcomes
- Integrate patient’s values into the care plan
- Use community stakeholders to connect patients with high-value resources
Read the full study to learn about strategies progressive organizations are pursuing in each of these areas.
