Choosing the right big data analytics vendor is just as important as picking a great electronic health record, especially for accountable care organizations with value-based reimbursement on the line.

 By Jennifer Bresnick

June 09, 2016 - Selecting a vendor for an electronic health record, big data analytics system, or population health management tool can be a difficult process for a healthcare provider – and it only gets harder if that provider wants to participate in value-based care.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are founded on the ability to communicate with each other, coordinate services, and analyze the activities of their attributed patients. 

But since many ACOs are partnerships between providers and care sites that may not have worked closely together in the past, many ACOs find themselves juggling multiple technologies, varying levels of health IT sophistication, and vastly different vendors as they struggle to achieve their quality and revenue goals.

Accountable care organizations need to develop a robust population health management infrastructure to achieve savings and improve the quality of care.

 By Jennifer Bresnick

June 01, 2016 - Healthcare providers who wish to succeed as accountable care organizations have to address a lengthy checklist of tasks, strategies, and technologies long before they can hope to accrue shared savings from Medicare or a private payer. 

Developing the partnerships and population health management techniques to stratify patients, communicate effectively, meet demanding quality measures, and slash costs can be a difficult journey – and one that is nearly impossible without a robust health IT infrastructure to form a solid foundation of data-driven insights.

South East Michigan Accountable Care (SEMAC), a physician-owned participant in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), has learned that data analytics and population health management technologies are a smart investment for success in the challenging environment of value-based care.