Gaps in care are a critical issue for stakeholders that will grow in importance with the shift to value-based care, according to a new report from WEDI.

The report, “Closing Gaps in Care through Health Data Exchange,” provides an overview of current approaches, best practices, emerging opportunities and barriers to identifying, preventing and closing gaps in care through data exchange via health information technologies.

For the purposes of the report, gaps in care are defined as the discrepancy between evidence-based recommendations or best practices and the care that is actually delivered, according to WEDI.

The report also found that greater education and communication are needed to raise awareness among stakeholders, particularly providers, about the value of identifying and closing gaps in care.

Such gaps can threaten the performance of healthcare organizations but gaps in care programs have had a positive impact and seem to produce a high return on investment.

Consensus is needed to develop and standardize quality measures and methodologies for information exchange among health plans, providers and patients in an actionable manner, according to the report.

“As value-based care, consumerization and population health management strategies continue to transform the healthcare industry, the implementation of gaps in care programs will be critical to improving quality and reducing costs," the report says. "Healthcare stakeholders must continue to work together to develop a health IT infrastructure that can seamlessly exchange health data, automate the identification of gaps in care and streamline the coordination of services. Our research suggests that greater education and communication are needed to raise awareness among stakeholders. The report represents a first step towards educating the industry on the importance of data exchange in identifying and closing gaps in care.”

Access the complete report.