The Missing Elements of (Most) PopHealth Programs

Traveling the world (US mostly, but recently the UK, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland), I've been able to learn from leaders in population health, and the common thread in successful and innovative programs is around the application of non-traditional healthcare data. We're talking SM (social media), PRO (patient-reported outcomes), and SDoH (social determinants of health). Let's see a few examples on how these data sources can better inform your PopHealth programs by providing more of the story around how your patients live.

1. SM - Leveraging social media to understand patient concerns and challenges. Data from Twitter, Facebook, and online communities give healthcare organizations the ability to track patient experience and population health trends in realtime. Do you know what's top of mind for your patients and their communities? They're out there telling you their health concerns - you just need to listen (the Qlik Connectors tap into all kinds of these types of data).

2. PRO - Biosensors, wearables, home health monitors. I've said it before. My iPhone knows more about my health than my doctor. If we're going to make a dent in preventable and controllable chronic diseases, healthcare organizations will need to get closer to the patient and understand how they're living. That means tapping into health tech and the rich set of accompanied data. That means as a clinician you will actually be able to see health data, not just sickness data, for your patients. Talk about opportunities to intervene when things head in an undesirable direction! "Hi Carla - we were alerted that your weight fluctuated significantly over the last few days - are you still taking your heart medication and eating appropriately?" Boom! Emergency visit prevented. You'll need a platform that can consume this massive set of data and bring it alongside your EHR data.

3. SDoH - Access (impediments) to care. Help your physicians better address their daily question of "Which patient isn't here that I should be seeing today" by tapping into SDoH data. Benefits? Earlier and lower-touch care may prevent complications, emergency room visits, readmissions, all the while improving patient experience and satisfaction. In a recent Health Data Management webinar, we explored this and a number of ripe sources of SDoH data including everything from socio-economic indicators and demographics, to transportation challenges and Mother Nature (for instance the impact of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria on care). We talk about the importance of location intelligence and understanding how access to not only hospitals, but urgent care clinics, retail clinics, and telehealth programs can cover more people, more efficiently.

All of this only matters if clinicians and front line staff can take action on the information and see how it relates to the clinical data. For that, you'll need analytics embedded in the workflow. Point-of-care analytics allows for convenient, timely information at the point of care (e.g., while you're sitting in front of the doctor), resulting in faster, more holistic patient care.

Want to learn more about how Qlik is working with the leading EHR platform Cerner and the SMART on FHIR® platform for embedded analytics? Join us at the Cerner Health Conference #CHC17 at Booth 814 and in the Solutions Gallery for demos of this powerful development.

Also, check out Qlik’s Visualizing Population Health with Qlik Sense video!