Data reports for ACO trump MU

1. Meaningful Use ( MU ) and Accountable Care
Organization ( ACO ) Technology by Jim Bloedau of
Information Advantage Group
By Jim Bloedau of Information Advantage Group
Both meaningful use (MU)
and accountable care
organization (ACO)
initiatives are about creating
value - the use of technology
to manufacture healthcare
more efficiently is a big part
of the overall design and
structure. When we look at
the data analysis required to
manage and report on the two, ACO is "other worldly"
at first blush.
If we start with the major process differences, MU is
more about transporting data to and from the electronic
medical record (EMR) to help gain efficiencies in the
manufacturing of healthcare. The ACO model requires
the same infrastructure, but is more reliant on analysis
of disparate data sources to provide greater visibility and nuance for quality and
cost improvements. In the ACO model, being able to monitor the avalanche of
data that shared savings requires is a primary driver for much of the technology
requirements, after the electronic medical record is implemented. Over time, the
sheer volume of ACO data will far exceed that required for meaningful use and,
by default, implies that ACO technology will be quite a bit more tricky and
disruptive.
In these early days, it is best to think about how an ACO is a business problem
first. Much is to be considered about the business structure and relationships
needed to provide care and then identifying savings and sharing them across
the entity, before thinking about the technology needed.
So far most will agree that the technology required for ACOs has not been well
defined when compared to how the ONC and NIST laid the MU technology out
with formal tests, demonstrations and recommendations. ACO tech will have to
be much more robust. Foreseen challenges include an even greater load on the
integration and maintenance of desperate systems holding data, data analytics
and getting the data out of warehouses – upwards to 30% of EMR data is not
computer usable, according to some estimates. When we begin to reach out to
the patient through remote care technology, telehealth and remote monitoring,
these processes and data feeds present unforeseen problems for many clinical
systems.

2. What is clear at the moment, and despite what we heard a this year’s HIMSS conference, a growing
chorus of highly experienced healthcare technologist say there is no single source vendor for ACO
technology within healthcare and there really can’t be due to a growing list of newly minted ACO
configurations . A common note from this chorus is that you’ll need to look beyond traditional health IT
vendors for your ACO integration solutions.
So, when you do get to the technology part of the discussion, a worthy question to start with is - What
technology will help me spot, track, verify and dole out shared savings...the business problem first, then
the tech.
Image credit: Silentus