2018 New Year’s Resolution: To Use Data to Improve Outcomes while Reducing Cost

As we kick-off the New Year, new additions to value-based care metrics are on the horizon, which means more chaos for the healthcare industry.

Healthcare organizations are constantly trying to find the best way make sense out of the ever-increasing metrics and regulations that are tied to value-based care. One of my suggestions is for our clients to stop burying their heads in their hands, hoping that value-based care will go away. Because, even if it did go away, the goals of delivering better outcomes for patients at a reduced cost will continue to be critical and should be every health system’s goal. The only way to achieve that goal is to measure effectiveness in treating patients, at a reduced cost. This necessitates that health systems should have their own metrics for measuring and monitoring themselves, as a first step in understanding and implementing the broader list of healthcare industry metrics.

For 2018, a formidable goal is to develop a strategic three-year plan on how your health system will engage and progress through the value-based-care continuum. This entails taking action directly into your own hands and not just responding to the policies of the providers. Many ask, “How do I even start to develop a strategy?”

Start by baselining where you are on the cost continuum for every service line, and set your priorities of where you want to be and how you will execute on making the appropriate changes over a period of three years. Next, it is imperative that the physician groups are driving the change. Most of the value-based care initiatives have been driven by the payers and hospital administration, without the most important component: the clinicians who administer the care to patients. These two first steps are essential to developing an effective plan to ensure your health system is on the right track to succeed in a value-based care environment.

Is one of your health system’s 2018 goals to use data to improve outcomes while reducing cost? We can help. Gray Matter Analytics has a cost-effective way for health systems to baseline where their costs are and to help them use analytics to create an effective three-year plan. Our solution addresses the challenge of data aggregation resulting from siloed data that exists in all health systems. Our solution is both cost effective and can be implemented in 90 days.