Population Health: Casting a Broad Net
When I reflect on my experience at the Keystone Summit this year, I’m awestruck. I’m in awe that we got such a great group of HIT influencers together. I’m in awe that we put together a framework for a complex topic like population health. And I’m in awe that we did it all in such a short time.
The attendees of this summit were truly inspiring. Vendors who compete voraciously against each other in the marketplace sat side by side, discussed what would be best for the industry, and collaborated together.
In total we had 19 different vendors represented by their top leadership and 34 different providers from varying positions in healthcare, from CIO of a hospital to CEO of an ACO.
Nobody was there to boost their egos; instead, all came prepared to discuss and debate with the goal of making population health better. It was a truly inspiring effort. I loved being able to work so closely with people who were a dynamic blend of intelligence and relatability.
I am in awe of the framework that came out of the collaborative effort. Population health management (PHM) is a very nebulous topic for the industry as a whole.
The framework that came out of the collaborative is quite broad, with six verticals that a population health solution can help providers in.
One of the reasons for casting such a broad net with the framework stems from the fact that “population health” means many different things to different people. Another reason is that we expect that in order to help a provider be successful in population health, PHM tools must have a broad spectrum of functionality.
This framework starts to define which key functions a PHM solution needs to help providers be successful. Now that we have a framework to measure with, we can improve the industry rapidly.
I am in awe that we were able to pull together such a robust document, one that has the support of the providers and vendors who built it, in such a short amount of time.
The fact that everyone agrees that this is a good start for the measuring of PHM astounds to me, and I am grateful to take part in such an awesome effort.
This is the fourth of six blogs about the KLAS Keystone Summit.