Digital Health Products are Essential for Implementing a Population Health Strategy
Satish Madiraju, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, MBA
Structural Heart ? Consumer Heart Health.
In healthcare, the transformation from a fee-for-service model to population health strategies is accelerating.?
Digital health products?are necessary tools for efficiently processing data and finding more effective prevention and treatment methods. Digital tools help reduce the need for urgent care visits for minor ailments. Preventive strategies are more seamlessly incorporated into patient lifestyles through new, creative digital methods; thus, the need for hospitalization and advanced treatment is reduced.??
What are some additional perks of population health? Why should healthcare organizations offer access to digital health products as part of their population health strategy? What is the scope of digital health for chronic disease management? The answers to these questions bring a greater understanding of the role of digital in today's healthcare. It's a tool for the industry's future, which offers benefits for all stakeholders - from patients to providers to the insurance industry.?
What is Population Health?
?A study of the health status and outcome of health conditions affecting individuals within a group is a valuable undertaking. The data gained helps aid understanding of health concerns prevalent in the population. It facilitates the development of prevention and treatment techniques that will help each member of the population stay healthy or more effectively deal with illness when it strikes.
Population Health is proving more successful and less costly than the fee-for-service model.
Population Health and Digital Health Products
Digital health products are necessary for implementing population health strategies.
Digital health products delivered needed services to patients without risk during the pandemic. Telehealth and other digital health tools and processes adopted due to necessity have proven their value.?
Remote monitoring of patients, more efficient patient records, expanded use of data processing, and other applications of digital health products offer immense potential for improving the efficiency of the healthcare system while controlling costs.?
The Expanding Selection of Digital Health Products
What are some examples of digital health products??
Digital Health Products Help Implement Population Health by Supporting:
The definition of value-based purchasing aligns with the goals of population health.
?Linking provider payments to improved performance by health care providers. "This form of payment holds health care providers accountable for both the cost and quality of care they provide. It attempts to reduce inappropriate care and to identify and reward the best-performing providers."???- HealthCare.gov - glossary?Value-Based Purchasing (VBP)
Digital health products that help monitor and mentor patients and other public members, helping them avoid or address various health concerns, support the cause of value-based purchasing.
Digital health and value-based care are a perfect match for the future of healthcare,?says this MedCity News post and many more experts.
2. Capitation and Risk-sharing Contracts
A?shared-risk health contract?is when a health plan arranges a capitation agreement with a physician organization. A capitation agreement means risk is shared between the provider, patient, and the insurance company.
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Rather than pay a fee for the number and intensity of each service rendered, doctors can be reimbursed on a?"per member, per month"?shared risk basis, from a risk pool established by the payer, to encourage doctors to act in the overall best interests of the entire population.?Digital health products, including an efficient electronic health records?section, help keep track of patient outcomes, the basis for determining compensation totals for physicians.?
The Scope of Digital Health for Chronic Disease Management:
The management of chronic illness is much easier and more cost-effective with the support of digital health products.?Diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and other common chronic health conditions can benefit from the following abilities enabled by digital tools for healthcare:
Prediction and Prevention of Patient Care Gaps
Patient medical records can be scanned to detect which patients are not meeting clinical standards. Scanning can determine which patients' symptoms are most likely to progress. Defining which patients are most in need of service promotes the most effective use of limited resources. Ensuring patients with the greatest need receive the most service results in a medical system that's fair and effective.?
Care Coordination and Communication?
Sharing of information between medical teams results in a more informed and insightful care plan for patients. Better patient outcomes will result when all medical providers know the entire scope of a patient's condition and requirements.
Duplicate treatment is avoided, and essential treatment is provided. Not just doctors and nurses, every service provider should be capable of some level of access to a patient's records. Dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, and others upon whom the patient's welfare depends must be aware of the patient's changing conditions.
Digital Therapeutics
Utilizing technology to create durable behavior change helps patients manage chronic illness. Digital interventions through specialized software are less invasive than surgery or drug-based interventions. They offer less risk, are often better received, and provide convenience for patients who have difficulty traveling to appointments.?
Vital Statistic Monitoring That's User Friendly
Connected consumer devices for easy remote monitoring of a patient's vital statistics are making a difference in the lives of patients suffering from chronic diseases; These digital health devices serve as an early warning system to let providers know if a patient's condition is taking a turn for the worse, without the need for an in-person visit.?
Telemedicine
We learned the value of telemedicine during the pandemic. But it's an invaluable tool at any time, not only to avoid exposure to those suffering from a chronic, potentially contagious disease but to improve care while providing convenience and reduced cost.
Those suffering from chronic illness need frequent appointments to assess symptoms, adjust treatment methods, and discuss lifestyle changes and proactive measures for managing the disease. Yet patient energy levels may be low, symptoms may make it difficult to dress and drive to a doctor's office. Telemedicine solves the problem.
Limiting High-cost Care by Reducing ER Visits and Hospitalizations
The fee-for-service system has never been efficient. If a patient suffered symptoms on the weekend, it was necessary to visit a hospital ER. The cost was significantly higher than for a simple appointment at the doctor's office.
The Digital Tool of Telemedicine can prevent the need to visit the ER to consult about a non-life-threatening symptom. Hospitalizations can be reduced by digital monitoring and the more frequent consultation enabled through telehealth. Worsening symptoms can be detected and addressed before they become critical enough to require hospital admittance.
The Value of Preventive Care Coaching and Devices That Support Fitness
Digital health products that remind people of diet, exercise, lifestyle changes that can prevent or lessen the symptoms of chronic illnesses serve a vital role in implementing population health strategies. Advances in designing fitness apps and vital statistic monitoring devices make their use more engaging and convenient, therefore more popular.?The next wave in digital healthcare?will significantly improve digital devices and software for implementing preventive care.?
New digital opportunities continue to support building a better healthcare system, achieving more positive patient outcomes, and reducing costs. Digital health products can play a prominent role in switching from fee-for-service models to population health strategies.