Dr. Erkan Hassan

Monthly Writings

Evaluations and reviews of the latest in the field.

How to Improve the Effectiveness of Digital Health Data

SUMMARY:

  • We do not need more healthcare data, rather we need to provide clinicians with data to increase effectiveness.

  • The use of claims data to evaluate quality data is not conducive to improving health outcomes, as it is only a single snapshot of care delivery at one moment in time.

  • Advances in digital information streams will integrate all systems to develop a clearer picture of health status.

BACKGROUND

  • We are challenged with an overwhelming amount of data generated and presented as “essential”

  • As payers shift from rewarding services to rewarding better outcomes:

    • Health plans and employers can track the value of payments

    • Providers can track their own performance

    • Quality can guide patient claims.

REVIEW:        

Claims Data:

The primary reason for limited health quality measurements is the systems reliance on insurance claims as the function of measurement.

  • Claims data is collected for the sole purpose of paying the provider

  • Claims data is not well suited for other purposes because it is:

    • Outdated (usually by months)

    • Clinically incomplete:

      • Claims indicate something which was done but not it’s effectiveness.

      • Does not contain the patients full health picture

  • Each claim is a partial snapshot of 1 service or episode of care

    • Even with a large number of snapshots, a full movie does not occur

    • Improved or worsened health occurs between snapshots

Era of Digital Measurements:

  • Data will need to be interwoven from various information sources

    • Monitoring devices

    • Fitness trackers

    • Smart phones

    • Genomic data

    • Social determinants: income level, employment status, environmental quality, community support.

4 Imperatives for Digital Measures

  • Improved Data Collection: Design systems to collect data separately from delivery of care.

  • Expand Range of Usable Data:

    • Combine clinical data with social determinants to fully assess quality of care

    • Will aid in accounting for differences in care outcomes based on economic, circumstances, quality of social support, etc.

  • Real Time Health Data Feedback to Guide Care:

    • Focus on improving health rather than delivering more services

    • Advanced IT capabilities

    • Financial incentives to provider and insurer

  •  Establish Digital Foundation for Quality Reporting:

    • Standardization of measures currently in use

    • Automate quality measures for data collection

    • Automate extraction of health quality data

CONCLUSIONS:

  • Harnessing the appropriate data to measure the quality of health care, providers can more accurately assess performance, patients can make better choices and insurers and employers can refine health benefits to better serve the public.

  • Complex policy decision making for data driven healthcare must include a wide range of perspectives at various times, patient context, and categories of technology.

Erkan Hassan