With the healthcare industry making the shift toward becoming a more value-based system, 80 percent of healthcare leaders have a population health program underway, according to survey results included in a recent HealthLeaders Media report, which was supported by McKesson.
Healthcare organizations are investing in tools to help them understand data and turn it into actionable information, and the following are the tools the majority of organizations are investing in.
- Patient registries — 57 percent
- Analytics with population data — 57 percent
- Data warehouses — 55 percent
- Analytics with payer claims data — 53 percent
Through their investments in population health, healthcare organizations are positioning themselves for a value-based industry, and once hospitals, health systems and physician organizations build their competencies, they are more likely to engage in risk-based payment models and also to assume more risk, according to the report.
The report revealed 50 percent of organizations are participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, making it the most popular financial risk structure among respondents. However, over the next three years, shared profit and loss arrangements are expected to gain more momentum than shared savings, which are anticipated to be used by an additional 38 percent of respondents.
Joint ventures with health insurance companies and direct contracting with employees are also expected to gain momentum over the next three years, with those types of agreements increasing more than 20 percent.
The report also revealed 60 percent of healthcare organizations are preparing for risk through the use of patient-centered medical homes, while 56 percent are using clinically integrated networks to prepare.
The report included survey results of 349 surveys from hospitals, health systems and physician organizations.
More articles on population health:
How to succeed at population health management in the shifting healthcare environment
Is your physician compensation plan aligned with value-based reimbursement?
Population health and analytics top new areas of investment for healthcare providers