The Role of Technology in Value-Based Care
With the shift to value-based care (VBC), healthcare organizations need to be able to manage patient data, target quality improvement projects, and identify high-risk patients. But to do this, they need the right technology infrastructure in place. Technology is the backbone that can break down siloes, connect provider workflows and enhance visibility into the patient journey. It also improves efficiency and rewards stakeholders based on outcomes.
Patient-Centered Care
Using technology to support this patient-centered approach can benefit greatly, including increased satisfaction and outcomes. However, achieving this model requires extensive training and implementation of best practices. These technology solutions are essential for value-based health care because they enable healthcare organizations to streamline workflows and prioritize patients. This can help clinicians spend less time processing visit reports and more time providing the patient with personalized, individualized care. It also allows them to reduce their “click fatigue” and focus on critical tasks, such as engaging patients in their care. It is essential to understand a patient’s values and preferences and to respect them at every turn in their treatment. This means not only understanding their medical conditions and medication side effects, but also their beliefs on things like death, pregnancy, and diet. The right technology tools can help providers communicate with patients and track their progress throughout their care. These technologies can include an online portal that allows patients to schedule appointments, review lab results and doctor’s notes, pay their bills, and more.
Population Health Management
A growing number of health organizations are leveraging technology to help manage populations. This new field is rooted in changing reimbursement and technology strategies and focusing on prevention and chronic illness management. A booming population health manager needs diverse skills, including leadership and communication. They also must be able to see the big picture and work at the intersection of traditional fee-for-service healthcare and value-based preventive care. Providers manage their patients’ overall health, quality, and costs in a value-based care model. They must analyze data and trends from a larger patient group and individual patients. This requires a specialized approach to healthcare that can address clinical issues and nonclinical risk factors like physical environment and income status. Using this data, healthcare providers can tailor care to meet specific patient needs and reduce expensive and low-quality care. However, implementing a population health strategy can be challenging for some healthcare organizations. It requires a significant investment in technology and up-front capital to start programs to identify high-risk patients and develop comprehensive care plans. Many providers rely on care navigation services and other nonclinical tools to help them deliver these programs. These services are vital to improving patient engagement and reducing the cost of healthcare by lowering utilization.
Financial Analysis
Financial analysis is a critical tool for healthcare leaders when managing a shift toward value-based care. This analysis involves examining a company’s financial statements and predicting how they may be affected by changes in reimbursement, volume, and other factors. Financial analysts use several different methods to perform their work. These methods vary depending on the industry and the type of business being analyzed. Some of the most common are horizontal and vertical analyses, which examine changes in various elements of a company’s financial statements over a specific period. Horizontal analysis is one of the most famous financial analysis methods and involves comparing several years’ worth of economic data to see how each account compares to a set baseline. This can help companies identify statements that are growing or shrinking and provide a clear picture of the company’s overall progress. In addition, it can help organizations determine how well they are managing their resources and generating revenue. This can be a critical factor for investors who want to know how efficiently a company works on its assets. This is especially true for healthcare providers, who are often under pressure to reduce costs. In addition to lowering costs, value-based care can help healthcare systems increase patient satisfaction. However, some healthcare providers must still be ready to embrace value-based payment models. This is especially the case in specific segments of the healthcare sector, such as nephrology. Nevertheless, value-based care remains a promising alternative to traditional fee-for-service payments.
Patient Engagement
Patient engagement strategies are a crucial aspect of value-based care. They allow patients to make informed decisions about their health and can also improve outcomes and reduce costs. In addition to traditional approaches, many new technologies help increase patients’ involvement in their care. These include patient-generated health data, telehealth, and remote monitoring. These technology solutions encourage and support patient engagement by allowing patients to enter their information, receive personalized education and self-care instructions, and report symptoms, side effects, and other health concerns. They can also send these data to their clinical team and be alerted to potential health problems. While these technologies are helpful, patient engagement still requires fundamental changes in how providers and organizations interact with their patients. For example, building and maintaining communication benchmarks between visits is vital to ensure patients are aware of their progress and are actively engaged in their care. Additionally, patient engagement requires predictive analytics capability that allows providers to identify potential opportunities for proactive intervention in a patient’s health. This is critical to reducing hospital readmissions and improving patient satisfaction.
