As the science around cancer treatment rapidly expands, new digital tools are capturing more data than ever, and most cancer care providers are navigating the transition to value-based care, it was no surprise that this year’s ACCC 46th Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit assembled a panel of leaders in the delivery of innovative cancer care in a session titled, “Digital Health Revolution.”
The need to leverage technology and data
The session spanned a wide variety of topics related to technology and emerging digital tools like machine learning that can help providers be more prospective in the care they provide. As one panelist noted, when 20% of patients are driving 50% of the costs, identifying the outliers early on can be integral in controlling costs through proactive outreach and care.
Patient Engagement trends were also addressed. For a patient, cancer is happening to them 24/7 but as a doctor it’s difficult to have insight into what’s happening between visits, which results in reactive care. New technologies like remote monitoring and predictive analytics are giving care teams the ability to get ahead of bad outcomes, side effects and hospitalizations, resulting in smarter deployment of resources.
Making data actionable
Another important role technology can play is connecting the data and making it actionable. Amy Ellis from Northwest Medical Specialties listed the tools her practices is using to succeed in value-based care, improve patient care, and change the conversation with payers….and it was a lengthy list. The technology tools included analytics, care management, care coordination, care beyond the clinic, artificial intelligence, patient engagement and others. They are using data to streamline care coordination, improve efficiencies and reduce the burden on providers. However Amy cautioned the audience that implementing a new technology and realizing value from it takes time. If you are considering value-based care, you need to be evaluating technology today and implementing as soon as possible to be ready for coming models including the OCM successor, the Oncology Care First Model which starts in 2021.
Another panelist pointed out how important it is to have access to your data, commenting that once you have it, it’s a funnel of information to help you figure out where you can move the needle.
One of the final thoughts shared by a panelist is that there is no end to end solution – succeeding in value-based care is a combination of technology, tools and people. Technology solutions should be partners not vendors and practice transformation is an iterative, ongoing process.
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In an ever-evolving healthcare landscape we know that providers, practices, and hospitals are dealing with more administrative challenges and have less time to spend on actual patient care. That’s why we developed our patient relationship management platform, Navigating Care.
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