Population Health

Hologic has launched a new tool that manages mammography devices, while SPH Analytics has partnered with Medecision with the aim of improved quality of care and lower costs.

The two firms will work together to offer easier retrieval of usable information to help patients more proactively manage their health.

The latest version of the platform aims to help with end-to-end management for high-risk and high-cost patients, said a company exec.

Providence St. Joseph Health has launched a new population health company, Ayin Health Solutions. WHY IT MATTERS PSJH said the new venture will aim to help organizations “maintain stability in a shifting healthcare market,” and it will do so by offering services that can help organizations keep costs down, improve care and ease into population health management. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Ayin’s offerings will include a pharmacy benefits management service, risk evaluation tools, comprehensive reporting and employee health benefits service. Value-based competition is getting tougher, and providers are looking for a competitive edge that calls for more customized population health management programs, according to a new study by Frost & Sullivan. Traditional PHM solutions that focus on high-cost patient populations are giving way to more holistic and evidence-based approaches that cover both high-risk and at-risk patients. Providers want to focus on preventive care and target patients as consumers. Many population health technologies are evolving to provide a more granular understanding of a patients' social determinants, giving providers greater insight into how to approach care, according to Matt Hawkins, CEO of Waystar, a cloud-based revenue cycle management company. ON THE RECORD “These are tumultuous times for the healthcare industry and organizations are eager for proven strategies and solutions that will stabilize their business and guide their shift toward a new standard of care,” said Dr. Rhonda Medows, CEO of Ayin Health Solutions and president of Population Health at Providence St. Joseph Health.  Diana Manos is a Washington, D.C.-area freelance writer specializing in healthcare, wellness and technology. Twitter: @Diana_Manos Email the writer: dnewsprovider@gmail.com  

How one open source tool can help solve some of the biggest challenges for communities and health organization looking to leverage multiple data sources for population health.

As suicides increase and the opioid crisis continues, Congress, HHS and others need to do more to enable data sharing for at-risk patients.

Blockchain won’t solve every health IT problem, so WW Health Chief Health Information Security Officer at Microsoft Hector Rodriguez offers advice for figuring out where it might, and might not, be a fit for you.

Northland District Health Board (DHB), which is based in Whangarei and covering the northernmost part of the North Island in New Zealand, has launched a web-based interactive version of the Health Needs Assessment (HNA). DHBs must produce an HNA report every 5–7 years as a way of monitoring the health and wellbeing of the population, as well as their need for health services. The reports are typically published as lengthy paper-based or PDF documents. Former Northland DHB clinician Juliet Rumball-Smith was instrumental in driving the development of an online HNA, which is intended to make the data easier to access and understand by anyone. Research associate Edith Bennett and data scientist Shameer Sathar at Northland DHB’s Health Intelligence Hub built the tool in-house using open-source software such as Python and Django. “There’s a lot of data already published, but it’s quite hard to access or understand, so we thought why not create an application where people can access information themselves and with interpretation already there,” Bennett says. “We can also update it as data becomes available, such as the Census 2018 data which will be published soon.” A survey completed with stakeholders before the new tool was published found that 86 per cent of respondents said the web-based format improved their ability to access the data. Sathar says future plans include making the tool more mobile compatible. “We’re also hoping to use it beyond the HNA by having forecasting and projections data available,” says Bennett. “Our real aim is to get a one-stop-shop for people to go to look for population health data specific to Northland.”   A version of this article first appeared on eHealthnews.nz.  

HIMSS and the Cleveland Clinic are now accepting speaking proposals for the 10th annual Empathy & Innovation Summit, the world’s largest, independent conference devoted to improving the patient experience. This year the clinic is partnering with HIMSS to explore more deeply how healthcare is extending empathy into an increasingly digital environment. The deadline to submit a presentation proposal is 5 p.m. EST on January 25. Priority is given to peer-to-peer, experiential learning and case studies from healthcare payer and provider organizations. The summit will take place in Cleveland on May 13-15. As the Empathy & Innovation Summit moves into its 10th year, the Cleveland Clinic and HIMSS are proud to announce an exciting new partnership around this annual event. This year’s theme, "Looking Back, Leaping Forward," will explore the evolution of the patient experience movement, examining how major influencers from the past decade will incite big innovations in the future of care. The 10th anniversary sets the stage for the new partnership and offers a valuable opportunity to enhance the focus on technology and more deeply explore how healthcare is extending empathy in an increasingly digital environment.   In addition to the main conference on May 14-15, HIMSS will present two preconference symposium on May 13. One will address the consumerism of healthcare; the other will explore “smarter care” or to how to maximize your existing technology more effectively to provide a better experience to underserved and high-risk populations.   Click here for more information and to submit a proposal for the main conference and the pre-conference symposiums.