While data and electronic medical records (EMR) in health care are becoming the norm, the challenge is integrating the two and knowing how to use the data to affect real change. This topic provided food for thought for hundreds of attendees at the Optum® Forum 2017, where several colleagues from Populytics shared the company’s approach. They included Nina Taggart, MD, Senior Medical Director, Population Health and Payer Relations, Lehigh Valley Health Network; Sameera Ahmed, Manager, Clinical and Business Analytics, Populytics; and Michael Weiss, Senior Health Economist, Health Care Analytics, Populytics.
Integration illustrated
Presenters illustrated the company’s success with integrating patient registries into the Epic EMR system used by its parent organization, Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). Analytics teams worked with Optum to develop criteria to identify high-risk patients using a combination of clinical data from the EMR, financial data from claims, and predictive models that target patients who are likely to be high risk in the near future. A multi-disciplinary team of data analysts, informatics analysts, clinicians, and EMR analysts worked together to determine the most effective and efficient way of integrating the registries into the EMR. The integrated registries support a newly created data-driven care management program designed to focus exclusively on payer-specific populations.
A successful event
Optum Forum 2017 was held July 31 through August 2, 2017 at Gaylord National Convention Center, Washington, D.C. Speakers from all walks of the industry covered data and analytics, pharmacy care services, population health management, and health care operations. They provided an in-depth view of the current and dynamic future of integrating data and EMR systems, emphasizing the advantages such a relationship holds for hospitals, express care clinics, physicians, other health care organizations, and ultimately, patients.
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