Report: Health IT critical to managing population health
Widespread adoption of health IT solutions is critical to the success of population health management, according to a recent report from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative.
As the center of the medical neighborhood, the patient-centered medical home requires significant efforts in governance and community organizing with widespread adoption of health IT at the heart of this effort.
“Health IT offers a structure to help primary care practices in and across the medical neighborhood provide better access to care, better communicate and enhance teamwork,” wrote authors Michelle Shaljian, MPA, and Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH. “Implemented effectively, it also has tremendous potential to identify health trends in local communities, exchange information across organizations, coordinate care as patients transition between providers and enables secure communications between providers and their patients and families.”
The report identified 10 recommended health IT tools to achieve population health management:
- EHRs
- Patient registries
- Health Information Exchange
- Risk stratification
- Automated outreach
- Referral tracking
- Patient portals
- Telehealth/Telemedicine
- Remote patient monitoring
- Advanced population analytics
The report also presented case studies of population health management from a diversity of practices throughout the country, including Twin City Pediatrics, a small practice in Winston-Salem, N.C., Union Health Center, a New York City community health center and Bon Secours Medical Group, an accountable care organization in Richmond, Va.
To view the entire 24-page report, go here.