Today’s population health strategies currently used by health plans and employer groups are missing the mark when it comes to directly affecting healthcare’s number one health challenge: arresting the trajectory of compounding chronic conditions. The 25-35% of the U.S. adult population fall within the category of those with one or more pre-chronic or early-stage chronic conditions who, if not treated with the right solutions, can quickly become patients with multiple chronic conditions who will get sicker, utilize more healthcare services, and cost the system an additional $1,000 to $3,500 per person, per year in preventable expenses. With 80 million people in this population, that is an additional $80 to $280 billion dollars in yearly healthcare costs.
Tackling the “Emergent Risk” Population
DPS Health, who coined the term “Emergent Risk” for this critical population, has now launched a suite of digital health services that directly target this population through self-management tools. Designed for health plans, providers systems and employers that are setting population health strategies for the emergent-risk population – adults with one or more pre-chronic or early-stage chronic conditions – the solution includes multi-channel consumer engagement to educate and enroll populations, Virtual Lifestyle ManagementTM to help individuals embrace healthy lifestyles, and a suite of condition-based, self-management programs to help the same individuals manage the impact of one or more conditions.
Partnership with Stanford
They’ve also partnered with the Stanford Patient Education Research Center, a leader in condition self-management solutions, to bring these solutions to market. Within this agreement, DPS Health will exclusively license the Center’s suite of online self-management programs, and the two organizations will collaborate on ongoing population research, program development and evaluation, and program marketing. The Center’s director, Kate Lorig, DrPH, will also join DPS Health’s new, Emergent-Risk Advisory Board, which will focus on research on today’s growing population with early-stage chronic conditions, and the clinical and financial risks for healthcare organizations.
With this launch, healthcare organizations can fully engage active people with chronic conditions. According to DPS Health, individuals with chronic illness face a lifetime of compounding conditions, compounding impacts on quality of life, and compounding cost of care. By developing new skills in health self-management, these individuals can improve their health, slow the progression of their current condition, and prevent future conditions. With the tool, each individual can engage in a set of behavior change programs to meet his or her individual needs. For example, an individual with obesity and arthritis can now participate in DPS Health’s signature program, Virtual Lifestyle Management TM, and in an arthritis self-management program developed at Stanford.
