5 tips to achieve population health management and value-based care goals

Did you know it's possible to achieve both at the same time?

If you are like most healthcare leaders, chances are you’ve grown used to treating your population health management goals and value-based care goals as separate entities. While this may have worked for a while, healthcare is changing, requiring greater alignment between these two objectives.

Fact is, the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (AAPM) programs are replacing systems and programs like the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and Meaningful Use (MU) of EHRs. Under the latter, providers reported population health management and value-based care quality metrics separately to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

These changes make sense because the PQRS and Meaningful Use programs essentially sought the same types of information – preventive care, chronic condition maintenance and care continuity. Moreover, they could ultimately help providers deliver more efficient care by focusing on a single set of standards while improving outcomes among high-risk and costly patient populations.

But, the changes also reflect those taking place within private healthcare with respect to aligning enterprise-wide goals to improve efficiency and clinical outcomes. Getting in step with these developments by aligning your population health management and value-based care goals is likely to result in great efficiency, better outcomes across your enterprise and a more holistic view of your patients and performance.

Ready to get started?

Here are five steps that can get you on the right track:

1. Assess. Review your current plans to achieve population health and value-based care goals and determine where initiatives can be combined and aligned.

2. Integrate. Once you identify areas of overlap, integrate systems to achieve real-time information flow.

3. Access. Check that information is not only accessible but also comprehensive and easy to understand. This can help to support evidence-based decision making.

4. Confirm accuracy. Implement systems and technologies to ensure your information is complete and accurate.

5. Secure. As information becomes more readily shared, support data privacy and security by putting measures in place that protect health information no matter where it is coming from or where it is going.