The Rise of Value-Based Care Technology

From an inability to manage chronic diseases to a heightened focus on rising costs, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the healthcare system needs to shift from fee-for-service to a model that prioritizes value.

Value-based care technology is the future of healthcare. It focuses on:

• Improving communication between patients and providers
• Using data analysis to identify and address gaps in care
• Supporting population health by identifying at-risk individuals and providing them with the resources they need to manage their conditions

Value-based care is quickly becoming the new healthcare model, and it’s critical that providers, payers, and patients alike understand what it means for an organization and how to get there. Unfortunately, few practices have the resources, let alone the data processing capabilities, to truly implement an effective value-based care solution.

Care Management Platforms

In a typical medical practice, doctors, nurses, and other caregivers may be working in separate offices with no easy way to share information. They might use different medical record (EMR) systems that don’t allow them to easily access each other’s notes. This can make it difficult for them to coordinate care across multiple providers.

In contrast, patient care management platforms help reduce these issues by giving providers access to patient data in one location and enabling multiple organizations to collaborate. The software that makes this possible also gives patients online access to their own medical records online so they can more fully participate in their own care planning process.

These kinds of systems are especially advantageous to medical practices, as they can reduce the amount of paperwork and administrative tasks that otherwise take up too much of the time of their staff members. The software also helps an independent practice improve communication with patients and other providers, which in turn makes it easier to coordinate care across multiple medical teams and organizations.

Specifically, these benefits include:

• Document Management: Electronic medical records can be accessed by care managers, who can then review the entire history of a patient, including current medication lists and allergies, as well as past diagnoses and treatments. This allows them to provide better care plans for each patient because they have more insight into their condition.
• Automated Care Plans: Care management platforms can automatically generate care plans based on specific criteria set by providers. They can then update these plans every time a patient’s condition or circumstances change. That makes it easy for providers to stay on the same page, along with their patients, even when conversations cannot take place.
• Clinical and Financial Transparency: A care management platform can provide greater clinical and financial transparency by showing providers what’s been done for each patient and which insurance company covers which service. That helps avoid surprises or disagreements between providers who aren’t aware of each other’s actions, encouraging them to work together for the patient’s benefit.
• Collaborative Communication: Care management platform users can communicate with their patients and other providers through a secure, HIPAA-compliant interface. This protects the confidentiality of patient information while allowing communication among members of the care team, greatly simplifying workflows for everyone involved.
  Interoperability between EMRs is necessary today, and an integrated care management platform allows care teams to achieve that. With the right support, they can better coordinate care, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs, to the benefit of all involved.

Data Analytics In Value-Based Care

The best way to provide value-based care is with analytics. The more data available, the better. This means collecting as much patient information as possible and creating an EMR that can communicate with other health IT systems in order to share that information.

With all relevant data available, providers gain insight into what works best for their patients and learn how they can improve outcomes. Analytics will allow them to better:

• Design care pathways
• Understand a patient’s experience
• Plan and deliver care based on evidence of what works best for each patient
• Monitor quality of care
• Reduce costs by eliminating waste and inefficiencies

Regrettably, the time needed to collect and analyze data can be prohibitively expensive, especially for smaller providers who may not have the resources to devote to this level of analysis. Even when providers do have the funding to invest in data analytics, they may not know where to start or how to interpret the results.

Evidence-Based Care Pathways

Expert-level data analysis solutions, like QPathways from TRIARQ, can help providers get the most out of their data by providing them with a set of tools and strategies. Instead of having to reinvent the wheel each time they want to analyze their own data, they can access an easy-to-use platform that can be customized for any type of healthcare organization.

This allows care teams to make their decisions based on empirical evidence, which is essential for ensuring the quality of care provided to patients. They can meticulously track the progress of their patients throughout a single episode of care, and they can also monitor outcomes over time. That way, providers can build a better understanding of which treatments are most effective for different types of patients.

Over time, these sorts of data-integrated solutions can be used to identify the best treatments and preventative measures for specific diseases and conditions. This, in turn, will help providers make more informed decisions about how they can improve patient outcomes.

The Changing Landscape of Healthcare

As technology becomes more advanced and health reimbursement models shift toward value-based care, the role technology plays in patient care management will only continue to grow. Independent medical practices need to adapt quickly and decisively.

The good news is that they don’t have to do it alone. TRIARQ Health is a leader in value-based care technology solutions. It provides independent practices with the support of teams that possess all the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare environment.