ICD-10, data analytics will improve care
Effective use of data analytics with the new codes will lead to better patient care and outcomes, according to Sam Ho, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at UnitedHealthcare, who delivered a keynote address at the American Health Information Management Association's summit on the topic.
“ICD-10 is not just about the technological impact, but how it will improve the healthcare system for patients,” Ho said. “It allows for a type of precision that we’ve never had before, which enables more meaningful data and analytics. To ultimately benefit from this, it is important for an organization to develop a sound assessment strategy that includes the application of analytics that can help identify the most pressing areas of risk to ensure there is a plan for addressing the issues that matter most.”
By providing more granular detail, ICD-10 will bring a level of accuracy for providers and payers and ultimately will lead to improved information at both the patient-doctor level and in assessing regional and global health trends. For example, there is greater specificity in documenting type I diabetes and type II diabetes, making it easier to track a patient’s care, benchmark important health changes and identify diagnostic trends by physician, by specialty, by provider organization and by region.
Ho said there will be a continual imperative to improve data analytics as the industry moves to a value-based system.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.