To reach healthcare's "Quintuple Aim," many organizations are looking into Population Health Management (PHM) software. This software helps improve the patient experience and enhances overall population health.
Today, these tools have evolved from mere data aggregators to powerful allies to drive better health outcomes.
From personalizing patient care plans to predicting population health trends, PHM solutions are changing how providers manage community health. These solutions are well-known for their interoperability and actionable insights.
In this guide, we’ll answer all of your questions around population health management software and provide a list of the top PHM solutions. Here’s what you can expect:
What is Population Health Management Software?
Population Health Management (PHM) software is a powerful digital solution. It enables healthcare organizations to improve the health outcomes of the entire patient population and ensure cost-effectiveness.
PHM is a data-driven approach that focuses on the overall health of communities. It achieves this by driving data-driven decisions and proactive care coordination. Thereby, enabling value-based care delivery.
Population health management software enhances care coordination by integrating data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive view of patient health.
Organizations are increasingly moving from fee-for-service to a value-based care model. The global population health management market will reach $53.3 billion by 2027 as per Markets and Markets . This highlights the growing interest in leveraging the power of a comprehensive solution to manage population health.
Overall, a population health management solution is a comprehensive health management tool. It leverages data analytics and has features like predictive modeling and care coordination. This empowers organizations to take a proactive approach.
Benefits of Population Health Management Software
If you are looking to partner with a population health management vendor, the advantages of the solution are numerous. Some of these include:
- Streamlining workflows and coordination: The platform automates data collection and analysis, allowing healthcare providers to focus on delivering high-quality care.
- Better population health insights: The built-in advanced analytics provide actionable insights, driving more informed decision-making. Additionally, the solution has comprehensive dashboards and reports that offer valuable insights into population health trends. This helps to identify emerging health risks and plan resources accordingly.
- Improved patient outcomes: The solution analyzes comprehensive patient data, including social determinants of health, lifestyle factors, and medical history. This helps providers predict potential health problems before they escalate. This improves overall health outcomes and leads to better management of chronic conditions.
- Reduced healthcare costs: The implementation of PHM software allows organizations to prioritize preventive care and early interventions. This proactive approach minimizes the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospital readmissions, resulting in significant cost savings.
- Enhanced patient engagement: Most PHM platforms come with patient engagement solutions, such as mobile apps and personalized portals. These features empower patients to take an active role in managing their health. It also results in improved adherence to treatment plans.
How to Choose Population Health Management Software: Key Factors
Finding a PHM software that is the perfect fit for your organization may seem like searching for a needle in a haystack. But some crucial factors can guide you to the right solution for your needs. These include:
- Population Health Analytics: The software should unify disparate patient data and leverage advanced analytics. This would help to identify high-risk groups, uncover coding and care gaps, and optimize risk adjustment. This approach enhances population
- Care coordination: Ensure the solution has custom-made and integrated workflows with in-built protocols and data-driven insights. This not only enhances communication and coordination between healthcare providers but also provides actionable insights, crucial for improving patient outcomes.
- Holistic Patient View: The solution should provide a comprehensive 360-degree view of patient health. It should include lifestyle, behavioral health information, and SDoH data for targeted decision-making.
- Patient engagement: Look for software that enhances patient engagement with automated and personalized omnichannel communications. Providing a hyper-personalized outreach throughout a patient’s care journey boosts patient attendance and adherence to care plans.
- Regulatory compliance: The solution should be HIPAA compliant to ensure the privacy and security of patient data. Prioritize platforms with robust encryptions, access controls, and audit trails. Look for certifications like HITRUST and SOC 2 to ensure the solution offers regular security updates.
Top 10 Population Health Management Software Solutions
Deciding which population health management solution to go for requires careful deliberation. Here is a list of the best population health management companies and their solutions as per several reports:
1. Innovaccer’s Population Health Management Suite
Innovaccer’s platform stands out as a leader in population health management. This is because of its ability to unify disparate data and give actionable insights.
The platform seamlessly integrates health data from multiple EHRs, claims, labs, and other systems. Innovaccer provides a 360-degree view of patient populations, enabling providers to deliver holistic care.
Key Features:
- 360-Degree Comprehensive Patient View: The platform integrates data from clinical, financial, claims, and behavioral sources. This provides a holistic view of patient health. This unified patient record enables advanced analytics and informed decision-making across the care continuum.
- Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics: The platform identifies high-risk patients and forecasts outcomes. It provides actionable recommendations for care plans and interventions based on individual patient profiles, enabling proactive, data-driven care management.
- Financial Contracting and Risk Management: The platform supports value-based care initiatives through contract modeling and risk adjustment. It ensures accurate coding and documentation of hierarchical categories (HCCs). This optimizes risk scores and reimbursements in value-based contracts.
- Integrated Care Management: The platform offers advanced risk models to identify patients with urgent care needs. It also automates workflows and uses AI to streamline documentation. It enables care teams to proactively address health needs, improve patient engagement, and optimize resource allocation.
- Enhanced Patient Engagement and Health Equity: The platform enables targeted patient outreach based on risk profiles and care gaps. The built-in Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) assessments promote health equity. This comprehensive approach helps providers understand and address population needs beyond clinical settings.
- Performance and Quality Tracking: Real-time dashboards track key performance indicators across clinical and financial domains. The platform monitors quality measures to ensure compliance with value-based care requirements and identifies cost-saving opportunities to optimize financial performance.
Why Choose Innovaccer?
The 2024 Black Book Research Survey ranked Innovaccer’s PHM solution as #1 three years in a row. The solution was featured in:
These achievements underscore the platform’s recognition across the healthcare industry. The comprehensive solution also earned a mention in Frost Radar: Healthcare Data Interoperability 2024.
The PHM solution by Innovaccer is an excellent choice for organizations that prioritize data-driven insights. Additionally, the user-friendly interface is useful for teams of all sizes whether large or smaller organizations.
Experience the Best PHM Software in Action
2. Epic*TM Healthy Planet
Epic’s Healthy Planet is particularly desirable for large healthcare systems. Its robust integration with Epic’s EHR makes it a natural fit if your organization already uses Epic.
Key Features:
- EHR Integration: Fully integrated with Epic's EHR for streamlined workflows.
- Risk Categories: Advanced algorithms identify high-risk patients for personalized interventions.
- Care Management Tools: Comprehensive tools for managing complex patient populations.
- Patient Portal: MyChart integration enhances patient engagement and self-management.
3. Cerner HealtheIntent
Cerner’s HealtheIntent is a cloud-based PHM platform. It allows providers to aggregate and analyze population health data in real time. This flexibility makes it a solid choice for organizations looking to future-proof their systems.
Key Features:
- Cloud-Based Platform: HealtheIntent’s cloud infrastructure makes it scalable and easier to manage data.
- Real-Time Data Aggregation: Providers can access up-to-date patient information from multiple sources. This speeds up and improves decision-making.
- Custom-made Dashboards: Organizations can tailor the platform as per specific needs with custom dashboards and reports.
4. Allscripts CareInMotion
Allscripts CareInMotion is a comprehensive, flexible platform that allows healthcare providers to manage patient populations effectively.
Key Features:
- Interoperability: Allscripts integrates with multiple EHR systems, offering flexibility to providers who use a variety of tools.
- Chronic Care Management: The platform manages chronic conditions effectively, which is critical for improving patient outcomes.
- Predictive Analytics: Allscripts’ analytics tools identify risks and predict future health outcomes. This helps providers take proactive steps for care management.
5. Azara Population Health
Azara Healthcare offers comprehensive population health management solutions designed to help healthcare organizations improve patient care. Their solutions have powerful analytics and reporting capabilities.
Key Features:
- Data Aggregation: Integrates data from multiple sources including EHRs, practice management systems, and claims data.
- Risk Categories: Advanced algorithms to identify high-risk patients and those requiring care management interventions.
- Quality Improvement: Robust quality measure tracking and reporting tools to support quality initiatives and regulatory compliance.
- Care Gap Analysis: Identifies and helps close gaps in care across patient populations.
- Population Health Dashboard: Provides real-time insights into key performance indicators and population health metrics.
6. Athenahealth
Athenahealth’s population management tools allow you to seamlessly manage populations of varying sizes across numerous EHRs. The cloud-based platform acts as a single source of truth. It unifies and normalizes payer, financial, and clinical data.
Key Features:
- Data Integration: Seamlessly combines clinical, claims, and patient data for a comprehensive view.
- Care Management: Tools for identifying and managing high-risk patients across the care continuum.
- Quality Reporting: Automated quality measure tracking and reporting to support value-based care initiatives.
- Patient Outreach: Automated patient engagement tools to improve adherence and outcomes.
7. Optum Population Health
Optum's Population Health platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to support value-based care initiatives. It improves overall population health outcomes
Key Features:
- Risk Categories: Advanced analytics to identify and stratify high-risk patients.
- Care Management: Tools for coordinating care across the health continuum.
- Financial Analytics: Robust financial modeling and performance tracking capabilities.
- Patient Engagement: Multi-channel patient engagement tools to support patients in adhering to care plans.
8. Philips Wellcentive
Philips Wellcentive offers a comprehensive population health management platform with a focus on actionable insights and improved patient outcomes.
Key Features:
- Data Aggregation: Combines data from clinical, EHRs, and other sources for a holistic view.
- Quality Reporting: Robust quality measure reporting capabilities to ensure regulatory compliance.
- Care Management: Tools for managing patient care across different settings.
- Patient Engagement: Patient portal and communication tools to enhance engagement.
9. NextGen Population Health
NextGen's Population Health solution offers integrated tools for managing population health while emphasizing significant cost savings.
Key Features:
- EHR Integration: Seamlessly integrates with NextGen's EHR
- Risk categories: Tools for identifying and managing high-risk patients.
- Care Gap Analysis: Identifies gaps in care to improve quality and outcomes.
- Patient Engagement: Includes patient portal and communication tools.
10. MEDITECH Population Health
MEDITECH's Population Health solution is part of its integrated EHR system. It offers tools to help healthcare organizations manage population health and accomplish their value-based care objectives.
Key Features:
- EHR Integration: Fully integrated with MEDITECH's EHR for streamlined workflows and data consistency.
- Risk Categories: Advanced algorithms to identify and manage high-risk patients.
- Care Gap Analysis: Tools for analyzing care gaps across patient populations.
- Patient Registries: Custom-made registries to manage specific patient cohorts effectively.
Reflecting on Emerging Trends in Population Health Management Software for 2024
As we approach the end of 2024, several trends are shaping the market. Some of the most impactful ones include:
- Integration of AI and machine learning: These innovative technologies are providing predictive analytics and enabling risk identification for providers. Thus, this leads to better and more personalized interventions. Providers can identify high-risk patients and treat them accordingly.
- Emphasis on social determinants of health (SDoH): Most vendors now cover SDoH data in their solutions. This allows providers to gain a comprehensive picture of patients' health
- Advancements in digital technologies: Several technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearable devices are providing more options for effectively managing population health.
- Remote patient monitoring integration: By integrating data from wearables and IoT devices, PHM platforms are driving more proactive and continuous patient monitoring.
- Enhanced interoperability: Population health management solutions are focusing on improved interoperability with other healthcare IT systems to enable seamless data exchange.