IBM AND PREMIER:WORKING COLLABORATIVELY TO IMPROVE POPULATION HEALTH IBM and Premier are building a data platform to provide clinical decision support at the point of care delivery, helping doctors, nurses and other providers make faster, better decisions about how to treat each individual patient.We are collaborating to gain insight, measure performance and improve population health. Information in this format can be used to measure a range of healthcare trends and opportunities, including costs, harm, readmissions, comparative effectiveness, etc. IBM and Premier will extend this type of new insight to all hospitals in the nation, especially those who don’t have the ability to do this on their own.

1. Data integration:
A win-win for patients and providers
Paul Grundy, With this information, conditions, readmissions and unneces-
MD, MPH, FACOEM, FACPM hospitals can identify, for in- sary hospital visits. This integration also
Director of healthcare stance, specific readmission addresses new care delivery models
transformation trends. Is it patients with through reform, including accountable
P E R S P E C T I V E S
ECONOMIC O U T LO O K
IBM certain procedures or care and value-based purchasing. This
diagnoses? Is it a particular type of access to new insight from data
Why is the integration of physician or physician group? will do for the physicians’ minds what the
data across a health system Is it patients discharged from X-ray did for their vision.
so important today? a certain unit?
We’ve known for some time – and more For patients, the benefit is greater certainty
and more recent analysis is showing – that For the non-acute care facilities, this will they will get the most effective treatment
enhanced collection, management and help with scheduling of appointments possible, and the assurance that the care
review of health data is needed to reduce within a certain time frame, and allow they receive follows best practices from
fragmentation of medical information. for tracking of home care follow-up leading hospitals and healthcare experts
Data that is unified, easily accessible and effectiveness. across the nation.
based on the entire care delivery system
would identify opportunities to reduce What is the benefit for providers It’s a win-win for providers, patients and
preventable harm, disparities and waste in and patients? the industry as a whole. Care is more
the system. But there is no comprehensive, Studies show that our healthcare system effective, people are happier and spend
nationwide view of performance and wastes billions of dollars annually, more less time in care settings, and excess costs
outcomes information from across the con- than half of what the system spends. The are reduced.
tinuum of care – from hospitals to physician biggest culprits include patient “overtest-
offices and other non-acute sites – available ing,” readmissions and unnecessary ER What is being done to help health
to providers today. In addition, the data visits, healthcare-associated infections systems better integrate data?
that we have is often stored in many and medical errors. There are health systems today that have
different formats across multiple locations. the capability to connect this data within
Access to data on a unified platform their own systems. But this cannot be
What type of data should be shared? supports providers to offer a safer, more done on a multi-system or national basis
Any and all information from hospital informed care experience by accessing to identify large-scale healthcare trends
and non-hospital sites that can help drive and using evidence-based information on and opportunities for improvement. And
quality, cost and operational improve- the best ways to treat patients. The the Dartmouth Institute is working with
ments should be shared among providers. outcomes can include reductions in providers such as the Cleveland Clinic and
So it’s clinical data that displays how care patient harm such as hospital-acquired Geisinger Health System in similar efforts.
was delivered and the related outcomes.
Supply chain data that links clinical
IBM AND PREMIER: WORKING COLLABORATIVELY TO IMPROVE POPULATION HEALTH
outcomes and costs, which is a first step
IBM and Premier are building a data platform to provide clinical decision support at the point of
toward true comparative effectiveness
research. And operational data care delivery, helping doctors, nurses and other providers make faster, better decisions about
regarding labor efficiency and overall how to treat each individual patient. We are collaborating to gain insight, measure performance
operating costs.
and improve population health. Information in this format can be used to measure a range
of healthcare trends and opportunities, including costs, harm, readmissions, comparative
effectiveness, etc. IBM and Premier will extend this type of new insight to all hospitals in the
nation, especially those who don’t have the ability to do this on their own.
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