By Ila Sarkar, Ph.D., Director of Corporate Analytics Predictive health analytics, as a whole, is still in its infancy.  In 10 years, the product landscape will look much different than it does today.  Analytics will allow for much greater use of real-time data from a wider stream of data sources, and be available real time to patients in some form.  That said, the use of predictive analytics is already helping providers to identify high-risk patients and manage them so they don’t consume healthcare resources and drive up...

by Ron Ritchey, M.D., Chief Medical Officer Accountable care organizations looking to strengthen their population health management programs should strongly consider two new Affordable Care Act initiatives as a real jumpstart to get their infrastructure going. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced these new initiatives earlier this year as a way to encourage quality improvement and care coordination.  ACOs and physicians (especially those in rural areas) will provide a tremendous benefit to the patients the...

By Ron Ritchey, M.D., Chief Medical Officer The recent CMS report on the quality and financial savings achieved by Shared Savings and Pioneer ACOs was both unsurprising and instructive for all stakeholders. According to the report released last week (which include performance for about 250 organizations), ACOs launched in 2012 reduced spending by $817 million to date, with hospitals and doctors keeping about $445 million as a result. However, performance on quality improved for 28 of the 33 measures. These numbers are instructive for all sta...

By Sean Marchiafava, Chief Information Officer A quick Google News search of “clinical integration” is very instructive:  Everyone wants a clinical integration program, and they want it yesterday.  Positions are being created within health systems for people whose sole task is the integration of quality initiatives, patient access and physician operations.  Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the number of clinical integration frameworks has surged from “just a few” to “literally thousands...

By Ron Ritchey, M.D., Chief Medical Officer As Chief Medical Officer for eQHealth Solutions, I travel regularly to conferences and workshops across the United States that focus on development, implementation and maintenance of accountable care organizations (ACOs). Recently, I attended and presented at the ACO Summit: West and the Collaborative Care Summit, which took place last month in San Diego, CA. Many conference attendees came from health systems, hospitals, physician groups, and health insurance companies.   In my travels, I meet ...

by Marina Brown, BSN, RN, CCM, Director of Clinical Programs It’s no secret that the US healthcare system has realized the value of keeping people well, as opposed to treating the sick. Population health management is actively being adopted by organizations, and we believe it’s an ideal way to achieve quality health outcomes while addressing the factors that drive health costs up.  Available data confirms the need for population health management:  Private insurance spending is disproportionately concentrated. The top 1%...

By Mayur Yermaneni, Chief Strategy Officer Last week’s official government report on the improved finances of Medicare was truly positive news for all of its current and future beneficiaries. At the same time, it revealed the continuing and complex issues that this entity faces.   While progress was made through legislation and other forces, the question remains:  How can we achieve prolonged sustainability so that our risk will continue to improve? I get asked that question quite a bit by our clients, and our company has...

By Edie Castello, President and Chief Executive Officer On behalf of eQHealth Solutions, I want to welcome you to our new Web site. While we have worked hard to present a new look and feel that presents an updated view of our extensive products and services, we  also believe it reflects our 28-year commitment to improving the quality and the value of healthcare in the United States.  We have an expansive portfolio of population health management services supported by our in-house developed IT software. We’re excited to make it ...