SigmaWay Blog

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the last date for the third round of new applications for 2015 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The following five key decisions will help organizations before joining the MSSP program. They are:

•        Estimate the number of Medicare beneficiaries for whom the prospective ACO(Accountable Care Organizations) wants to be accountable.

•        Determine an appropriate contracting vehicle through which to operate the ACO.

•        Consider the types of health care professionals and facilities the prospective ACO should target as participants.   

•         Set expectations for prospective ACO participants in advance.

•        Gather the appropriate staff to address particular aspects of the MSSP Application early and set milestones in advance of submission deadlines where possible.

To read more about this aspect, please visit Stephanie D. Willis’s (Associate of Mintz Levin) article link as given below: http://www.natlawreview.com/article/five-key-decisions-acos-accountable-care-organization-looking-to-participate-2015-ms 

Data complexity is a major challenge faced by the healthcare industry. Now healthcare industry is going through a transformation phase. So companies like General Electric, 3M CO, Siemens and Xerox Corporation are taking initiatives to gain insights for making healthcare processes more efficient by the use of predictive analytics.

Read more at: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/analytics-a-shot-in-the-arm-for-healthcare-analyst-blog-cm337055

Communication is an absolute essential entity to allow successful improvement in healthcare industry. Effective communication will allow relevant and correct flow of data through the organization. With more relevant data, analysis will also be more accurate and will automatically lead to improvement in the healthcare industry.

Please go through the link for more details http://healthcareanalytics.info/2012/03/successful-healthcare-improvement-requires-analytics-and-effective-communications/#.UyhlIqIyX4s

Six sigma can help healthcare providers to improve patient care and reduce uncertainty for care givers. This article speaks about how six sigma can be introduced in healthcare industry and improve the quality of care givers.

For more details please visit http://www.isixsigma.com/industries/healthcare/applying-six-sigma-patient-care

Balancing privacy, policy, and innovation is important to achieve harmony in health care, but, it is also difficult. While both population health and patient centered care seek to improve health care, at some level they are fundamentally at odds. Managing the health of population in a sustainable and scalable way requires uniformity of care across large groups for prevention, wellness, resource utilization, etc. Often, the most predictive clues about our health, exist in information that lives outside of traditional health care. This can be unearthed with the help of new innovations in Big Data. With the right policies and safeguards in place, trust can be established that will give individuals greater comfort and confidence to share information with their healthcare providers.

Harry Greenspun, MD and Senior Advisor for Health Care Technology and Transformation at the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions talks more about it here: http://blogs.deloitte.com/centerforhealthsolutions/2014/03/balancing-privacy-policy-and-innovation-to-achieve-harmony-in-health-care.html?id=gx:2sm:3tw:chsblog:awa:chs:032214:deloittehealth#

The government of NSW has released their long awaited integrated care strategy. This strategy emphasises on greater collaboration among the big players in health care industry and motivates partnership between hospitals and community based service. The article by Darragh O’ Keeffe, Editor of Australian Ageing Agenda, speaks about this strategy and its benefits.

For more information please visithttp://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/2014/03/20/nsw-takes-lead-connected-healthcare

Healthcare organizations are becoming proficient at creating and storing terabytes of data each month. Unfortunately, their skills to transform that data into knowledge and useful information are not quite so impressive.

The major primary obstacles to widespread analytics adoption are:-

·         Culture does not encourage sharing information.

·         Lack of understanding how to use analytics to improve the business.

·         Ownership of the data is unclear or governance is ineffective.

Please go through the link for more details:

http://healthcareanalytics.info/2013/11/three-main-barriers-to-widespread-analytics-use-in-healthcare-organizations/#.UyhkhqIyX4s

In USA, approx. 8o% of hospitals are using electronic health records, due to which it is possible to gather useful information for research & development. Now healthcare industries are actively looking for transformation of its major areas by meaningful use of analytics.

To know about its challenges and impact, please go through the link: http://ehrintelligence.com/2014/03/17/for-healthcare-analytics-you-need-to-have-goals-in-sight/

Through a study, Gallup (research organisation) found that two thirds of the Americans are satisfied with the current health care system. People who own insurance schemes are more satisfied with the current health care system compared to others who don’t have insurance schemes. According to Gallup, health care insurance status plays an important role in the life of an American. Researchers also found that most of the young and old people like the present health care system. The article by Laura Matthews, U.S political reporter for the International Business Times, speaks about the Americans’ reaction towards the current health care system.  

For more information please visit http://www.ibtimes.com/majority-americans-say-healthcare-system-isnt-crisis-1561795

Steven Rust, Ph.D., “the Battelle’s Inventor of the Year”, developed and demonstrated a very useful analytical tool which can predict risk associated with a patient in such a way that it can be prevented in an early stage.

 Please go through the link for more details:http://www.battelle.org/media/press-releases/rust-is-battelle-inventor-of-the-year

It is estimated by the research firm, Gartner, that in the year 2014, healthcare providers of India will spend approx. $1.08 billion specially to improve technological supports and IT infrastructure. R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom, said healthcare sector will focus more on implementing information technology to enhance their value chain.

Please go through the link for more details: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-healthcare-to-contribute-1-billion-to-it-sector-in-2014-gartner-1966870