In order to effectively manage population health, accountable care organizations' technology needs go far beyond electronic health record systems.
A recent IDC Health Insights report has identified the IT systems and technological abilities ACOs need to effectively monitor the health of a population.
The following are considered "foundational applications" in the report, the IT systems necessary to take full part in an ACO:
- EHRs
- Claims data
- Computerized physician order entry
- Admission, discharge and transfer
- Billing
- Practice management
- Enrollment
- Care management
Additionally, ACOs require the following IT solutions:
- Analytics applications that provide clinical and claims data at the point of care, to support effective clinical decision-making.
- Patient- and population-level solutions that manage care plans, track events and schedule appointments and reminders.
- Patient engagement tools, including patient portals and emerging strategies such as targeted SMS messaging.
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