Creating a Patient-centric Sustainable Business Model: Evaluating the How’s and Why’s

In this age and time of outcome-based care, delivering care that is both patient-centric and cost-effective has become the top priority of healthcare leaders across the world. This has given rise to newer and more innovative care delivery models that can cater to the unique needs of both patients and care teams.

 The ever-growing significance of population health management 

No less than 150 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease. They require episodic care at regular intervals, along with a strict daily regimen to ensure minimum degradation in overall quality of life. 

With the increasing push to tie payments to care quality as well as overall utilization, healthcare organizations now strive harder to manage such patients. Therefore, the importance of Population Health Management (PHM) has grown manifold in recent years. The aging population, too, has contributed to the cause.

It goes without saying, the well-being of a healthcare provider’s patient population is an important measure of the quality and effectiveness of care in that region. Healthcare organizations that invest their energy and time in developing a concrete PHM strategy are often able to optimize their resource utilization and overall reimbursement levels. 

In layman terms, an effective population health management system should have the below-mentioned two major goals:

1. The ability to monitor, identify, and analyze health trends of each individual within a defined set of people categorized based on their region or other socioeconomic factors.
2. Availability to replace high-cost treatment procedures with low-cost proactive interventions.

To ensure that both of these goals are met, organizations should take targeted preventive care measures.

Leveraging technology to redefine the care delivery paradigm

Cutting-edge technologies such as AI and Machine Learning are becoming more relevant than ever in the healthcare sector. Since each patient deserves private, customized care with unique plans, a dedicated team, and outcome-focused goals, most organizations are exploring the solutions such technologies can offer to make this dream a reality.

However, it is not just the healthcare data that needs to be managed to deliver the care our patients deserve. We need to ensure that every other process works fine. The key to creating a 100% effective data-driven strategy to improve population health require five major elements:

• Efficient healthcare data integration
• Powerful population health management
• Automated care management
• Point-of-care insights to engage physicians
• True patient involvement

It is safe to assume that in the days to come, technology will start impacting daily operations in each healthcare facility in some way or the other. 

However, it all comes down to having a patient-centric approach

No technology can succeed if it does not make the lives of its targeted segments, i.e., patients and providers, easier. While organizations need to develop a data-driven approach to improve the quality of care across the network, sustaining the human element in the healthcare space is something that all leaders should focus on.

At a broader level, organizations should aim at developing a comprehensive care delivery model that coordinates care across all elements of the healthcare system, including hospitals, specialty care, community services and supports, and home health care, among others. Patients who are more aware of their well-being tend to take their symptoms more seriously and reach out to their providers more proactively. Such promptness ensures timely access to care and provides better communication in each instance. It further sums up to reduced utilization and better care outcomes. 

To know more on how you can leverage a data activation platform to create a sustainable business model, get a demo.

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Join Adrienne White-Faines MPA, FACHE, Nathan Riggle, Emily K. Fletcher MPH at 10 AM PT/12 Noon CT/1 PM ET on August 27 in a webinar, titled "Connecting Communities and Care Teams for Improved Population Health." Register now!