Identifying Challenges to a Population Health Approach

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P opulation health management is recognized as a means of improv- ing care quality, clinical outcomes,

effi ciency, and even fi nancial outcomes. Because it offers so many benefi ts, population health management seems poised to become a practice that is widely adopted by healthcare provid- ers. But, transitioning to a population health model is not without challenges, and many healthcare teams run into obstacles ranging from staffi ng to strat- egy development. Fortunately, smart use of the patient engagement technol- ogy that most teams already have in place can make implementing a popu- lation health program less of a struggle.

Will there be staffi ng challenges? A popular belief among healthcare providers is that population health management programs either put sig- nificant strain on staff or require ad- ditional hires. In fact, a West survey revealed that 44% of providers expect that adopting a population health pro- gram will create staffing issues. It is not surprising that healthcare teams feel population health management requires staffing adjustments. A well- executed program involves analyzing clinical data, stratifying patients by risk and disease, developing personal- ized outreach campaigns for subpop- ulations of patients, regularly com- municating with patients, monitoring patients between visits, and taking steps to proactively help patients avoid adverse health issues. These responsibilities are not part of the normal routine for a lot of healthcare teams. As a result, most providers do not believe their current staff can sup- port these efforts. In reality, many of the tasks associated with population health management can be automated and done very efficiently. The task of patient outreach is a prime example.

As an example, it is not realistic for a physician to manually contact 500 pa- tients on a routine basis to see how well they are managing their blood pressure. But, staff can easily automate this out-

reach and send targeted messages to a group of patients that have elevated or high blood pressure. Patients might re- ceive a text message reminding them to fi ll their blood pressure medication and take it as directed. They could be sent a voice message that prompts them to complete a survey about their lifestyle and symptoms. Or, patients may get an email with tips for reducing their sodi- um intake. Messages like these, that are relevant to a group of patients, can be sent on a one-to-many basis. This type of patient communication has a large reach, but it requires minimal staff time to execute. The point is, the repetitive outreach that benefi ts groups of pa- tients with similar health conditions and needs can be performed automati- cally—so the strain on clinical staff is limited. Staffi ng becomes much less of a problem when teams rely on auto- mated technology-enabled communi- cations to handle portions of the popu- lation health management process.

Developing a strategy More than one-third of healthcare teams are uncertain of how to develop a population health strategy. West’s survey revealed that 38% of providers feel there is a lack of population health management best practices, which makes designing a population health strategy challenging.

Healthcare teams can gain the in- sights they need for developing their population health strategy by examin- ing their own clinical data. Information from electronic health records is use- ful for identifying what groups make up a larger population, and from that information, the types of support and communication needed. Practices will typically want to design a set of com- munications to engage and support patients with common chronic condi- tions. That could mean creating a cam- paign geared toward managing obesity, and another campaign aimed at man- aging diabetes.

When designing patient outreach campaigns, healthcare teams don’t

Navigating population healthhealth management challenges

need to reinvent the wheel. They sim- ply need to craft messages that will engage patients and encourage them to do things to manage their specifi c con- ditions. A clinic’s diabetic patients can be assigned a series of automated com- munications that alert them when they are due for an A1c draw, prompt them to schedule routine foot or eye exams or report their glucose levels to their care manager. If providers consider the ideal behaviors and actions they want to see from patients, and build their engagement communication strategy around those things, they will be on the right track.

Most providers will want to dedi- cate a lot of effort to chronic-disease management, and rightfully so. How- ever, one tip teams should remember when building their population health program is to focus on preventing is- sues across all patients under their care. That includes prevention for “healthy” patients, too. Teams can de- velop outreach campaigns that engage all patients within their population, so patients who do not have chronic con- ditions can maintain their good health.

Conclusion Despite the obstacles, population health management provides many benefits for patients and providers. Healthcare teams that want to pur- sue a population health management program can minimize challenges by starting to use technology to automate key processes, and engage and sup- port patients. HM T

Allison Hart Vice President of

Marketing,

TeleVox Solutions at West

How healthcare teams can use technology to support population health programs. By Allison Hart

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