The forgotten quintuple aim

By now you have probably heard about the various aims of sick care innovation and entrepreneurship. We started with the triple aim. Improving the U.S. health care system requires simultaneous pursuit of three aims: improving the experience of care and equitable access, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita costs of health care.

However, as more and more doctors got fried, or just cooked but not done, improving the doctor experience, not just the patient experience, was added, making it the quadruple aim, since happy doctors make happier and healthier patients and are less likely to drop out.

Now, a fifth aim, improving sick care business processes, driving out waste and unnecessary administrivia, make up the quintuple aim. Finsicktechnopreneurs are taking a bite at the apple. Here' how AI can chip away at administrative waste.

Unfortunately, the U.S. health system ranks last in a new study on?quality?and?accessible?care among 11 high-income countries surveyed.?

The?study , conducted by the Commonwealth Fund,?used?data from international surveys, including the public and physicians,?and the guidance of an independent advisory panel, choosing 71 measures relevant to healthcare system performance.?They were categorized into five primary?groups: access, care process, administrative efficiency, equity and healthcare outcomes.??

It concluded that, among other things,?receiving adequate healthcare in the U.S. depends on one’s income, despite the U.S. spending the most on care.?The U.S.?has?ranked last in every edition of the?report since 2004.?

?A patient-centered approach to revenue cycle technology is more than a smart strategy; it will soon be the only viable option for providers.

Here is how to measure the value of virtual care using these metrics.

The days when insurance companies shouldered 90 percent of claim reimbursement have passed. Today, two-thirds of Americans are afraid they will receive a surprise medical bill, according to a 2018?Kaiser Family Foundation poll .

The digital transformation of sick care is intended, in part, to move it to healthcare instead, focusing much more on disease prevention, wellness, making smart purchasing decisions, eliminating waste and unnecessary care and preventing sick patients from getting prematurely sicker. The goal, at least in the US, is to die young as late as possible without going bankrupt.

Biomedical and digital health entrepreneurs have to solve not just a technical problem but a clinical problem and a business problem as well since they are often intertwined. That's why, if you are trying to sell or pilot your product or service to an organization or hospital, you need to satisfy the needs of not just the CFO, but the other CFO leaders: clinical, finance and organizational.

Moreover, since there are many stakeholders with problems requiring different value propositions in the new product value chain, some will only focus on the solution to their business problem, like reducing the costs of things, improving productivity, generating additional revenue in a particular service line, reducing their ICT spend, supply chain improvements or streamlining new care delivery channels.

If you are a biomedical entrepreneur, don't forget to solve your customer's problem. In many instances, if that person is the CFO or CIO, they will want you to achieve the quintuple aim and deliver care that is better, smarter and cheaper.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Twitter@SoPEOfficial and CO-editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship